Sun Highway repairs underway

Hungry Horse News

Repairs on the Going-to-the-Sun Highway were set to start this week on the Park's east side.

There are six damaged sections of highway in the area of the East Side tunnel. The largest portion is a 100-foot plus washout where both lanes of traffic were completely washed off the side of Mount Piegan during flooding last November.

But before the large washout, there are three smaller washouts that will be fixed by Sandry Construction, Park officials said last week. Sandry will also pioneer through the snow past the large washout.

The work for the large washout and damage beyond it will be completed under a separate contract which is expected to be let in the next couple of weeks, said Park spokeswoman Amy Vanderbilt on Tuesday.

Park plowing crews were beyond Siyeh Bend on the east side last Thursday (April 26) and were expected to make the hard right turn around Piegan where the highways runs to the East Side tunnel.

Last week saw good weather for plowing the road - the snowpack, while slim to none at lower and mid-elevations, is still about normal at high elevations, said Glacier's avalanche specialist Mark Dundas.

Dundas said while the east side has seen several spring snowstorms, the snowpack is largely consolidated, with no weak layers.

That means the avalanche danger is reduced, though the terrain of Piegan, even with a stable snowpack, is still prone to slides. Several slides had come off the mountain in recent days, but none had run to the road.

Once Sandry's work is completed, work on the large washout will start said John Schnaderbeck of the federal Highway Administration.

Schnaderbeck said the plan is for crews to blast a single 12-foot lane into the mountainside. The contractor - not the Park, will have to come up with a way to clear snow from the washout, Schnaderbeck said.

From that one lane, crews will be able to piece together a Mabrey bridge - a temporary structure that goes together much like an erector set.

The bridge will span the large washout while crews work underneath. It will also allow traffic to go over it.

When all is said and done, the highway will have two lanes with turnouts - much like it did before the washout.

Meanwhile, crews will continue plowing up and over Logan Pass from the west side.

On the west side, however, they have their work cut out for them. As they near Logan Pass, there's huge piles of debris from washouts sitting on the highway surface.

That debris - mostly gravel from the mountainside, is piled up at Triple Arches and other areas on the west side.

That will have to be removed before plows can continue.

So when will the entire length of the Sun Highway open?

The prediction is early July, Park officials have said in the past, though access to Logan Pass could come sooner than that, weather provided.

Motorized access on the east side could come as far as Jackson Glacier Overlook in the next few days, but folks won't be able to bike or drive beyond that - the plan is to keep the road closed until repairs on the washouts are further along.