Initially, planners hoped to rebuild the popular alpine route in about eight years, at a cost of $140 million. Last year, they revised both time and budget estimates upward, approaching 10 years and $300 million.
Now, park Superintendent Chas Cartwright says “it's possible” they will complete the highest-elevation work in a decade, but the remaining reconstruction is on an indefinite schedule.
Much hinges on the federal highway bill, which will be reauthorized in 2009. Already, House leadership has signaled that the number of earmarks in that legislation will have to be slashed, perhaps even halved.
The current $286 billion bill included a $50 million earmark for Sun Road reconstruction, secured largely through the efforts of U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.
Highway engineers had long called for an overhaul of the route, warning that some sections of the mountainous road were in danger of “catastrophic failure.” The disrepair is blamed on decades of harsh winter weather, avalanches and a lack of basic maintenance.
Cartwright said he has begun a budgeting exercise to carve out additional maintenance money from his base funds, and predicts future care of the road “will be noticeably better.”
That will not, however, help to fund reconstruction work already under way. With Kalispell-area residents seeking millions for a U.S. Highway 93 bypass and earmarks already on the chopping block, Cartwright is preparing for a future without significant funding.
He's spent months with federal highway officials, finding considerable savings in the project, but still would need more than $100 million just to stay on track.
“The ability of the congressional delegation to do another add-on?” he wondered. “I don't know. I suppose it's possible. But it's certainly not something we can bank on.”
On Friday, Baucus called the road a “national treasure and a real gem,” but warned that “the budget climate for funding projects like the Sun Road is different than in years past.”
The senator did, however, repeat his commitment “to doing my part in helping to secure funding” for future road repairs.
“It's an historic part of our state,” he said, “and I want to make sure that folks from around the Big Sky State and visitors from around the country can enjoy it for years to come.”
Cartwright said his discussions with the congressional delegation are “ongoing, but not conclusive.”
Options, he said, include a possible national economic stimulus package, which could take on public works projects much the way the Civilian Conservation Corps built infrastructure in the 1930s. He also hopes construction costs might come down, as the contracting environment becomes more competitive amid decreasing projects.
The coming summer construction season, he said, is the “last of the good-case scenario.” After that, “we have to ask the question, what if we have less money to work with? What if we don't have the add-on? What would we do? I want to have a strategic plan for that.”
Part of his plan calls for making internal budget cuts to free up money that can be spent on maintenance. Another part calls for sharply cutting reconstruction costs. And part calls for extending the road work into an unknown future, with no predicted completion date.
In the past, Cartwright said, parks often spent
50 percent or more of their overall budgets on maintenance work. Now,
30 percent is more the norm.
“We haven't spent enough of our base budget in maintaining the road,” Cartwright said. “That's going to have to change.”
Because the Sun Road, he said, is “a commitment. It's the heart and soul of this park. We'll make sure it's open to visitors, one way or the other.”
Reach reporter Michael Jamison at 1-800-366-7186 or at mjamison@ missoulian.com.
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