North Fork Road paving necessary

To the editor,

Completion of the paving of the North Fork Road from Columbia Falls to the paved Camas Road entrance of Glacier National Park will resolve issues and improve conditions in numerous areas. Paving this section of the road will make it safer for all travelers of the road. No longer will drivers be subjected to the dangerous blinding dust storms created by the road traffic, or vehicles driving all over the road trying to dodge potholes and washboards, and gasping on dust that is hazardous to people and the environment. The dust that is spewed into the air will no longer exist.

The suggestions Bob Grimaldi makes in his letter to the Hungry Horse News of Nov. 19 makes complete sense for enhancing visitor use without negatively impacting the environment. Not paving this section of the road is wasting a long-term positive economic benefit for Flathead County, and specifically for Columbia Falls. Instead of visitors heading over Logan Pass to the east side of the divide, the road will provide additional reasons for them to visit Columbia Falls as a "Gateway" to Glacier National Park and spend additional time and money on the west side, in our county. Columbia Falls can truly become a gateway to GNP, routing visitors through town on their way to the park, as Mr. Grimaldi's letter outlines.

Recently, Laura Fay, a research scientist with Western Transportation Institute, was invited by the North Fork Landowners Association's "road committee" to review and discuss options for the problems on the North Fork Road. When asked what she thought would resolve the problem, she recommended the community get together and pave it. She further commented that money is available through numerous sources.

The era of "all those North Forkers are against paving" is history. More than half of the North Fork landowners support paving because they have witnessed the explosion of its use and the effects and risks accompanying it. The dirt road is over its reasonable carrying capacity. Let's manage the impending additional increase in traffic, pave it, resolve the problem and improve the visitor experience. This can be done responsibly relieving the negative effects it currently heaps on people and the environment.

Beth and Greg Puckett

Polebridge