Crews closing in on Logan Pass

The Going-to-the-Sun Road will open to Big Bend, which is three miles below Logan Pass on Friday and the Park hopes to have the road completely open "as soon as it is safe to do so," said Glacier National Park Spokeswoman Amy Vanderbilt.

She said it should be a matter of days, not weeks, as had been reported in some news outlets.

Crews were still widening the road through the Big Drift, installing guardrail and doing general cleanup during the early part of this week.

The Big Drift is a huge drift of snow just east of Logan Pass. It's the last obstacle to clearing the road.

Last week the Logan Pass parking lot had melted out and crews were installing guardrails and clearing debris from a massive avalanche that shot across the road in multiple places over the winter.

Trail crews were also helping out with the road clearing.

Motorists should expect some construction delays en route and portions of the road will not be paved.

There will be bathroom facilities at Big Bend until the road completely opens.

The Inside North Fork Road should also be repaired and the target date for that opening is July 4.

Skiers should be able to carve some turns as snow was still relatively deep above Logan Pass. The Pass has offered some late season skiing in most years.

Hikers and bikers will be allowed to go beyond Big Bend, Vanderbilt said.

On the east side, the road will be open to Jackson Glacier Overlook. Even with cooperative weather, the complete length of the road this year wouldn't have opened any earlier than June 19 anyway, because road contractor HK Construction is allowed a shoulder season to work completely on the road width. Last week they were working on the rock wall near Haystack Creek, using a crane that took up the entire road surface as they bored into the wall to grout and stabilize it.

The opening of the highway marks the beginning of the summer season in Glacier — a season that with the depressed economy, has started out slow, area merchants have said.

Free transit service on the road begins July 1 and runs through Sept. 7.