Planning

The Road Is a Visitor
Making a Montana highway respectful of the environment through which it passes.
By Clair Enlow

Every road tells a story. The history of Highway 93, on the west side of the Rockies in Montana, is like that of many highways laid out to meet the emerging needs of automobile traffic in the West. It's a simple tale of rapid settlement, easy rights-of-way, and speed.

Much of the road is straight as a gun barrel, cutting through the Flathead Indian Reservation as if to minimize the distractions of the breathtaking scenery. It skirts Flathead Lake and takes vacationers up to Glacier National Park and Big Mountain Ski Resort. With 56 miles of roadway inside the reservation, it blocks numerous wildlife migration routes and cuts through habitats essential to the health of many species. The road crosses through the Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge, slicing connections in the rare habitat and stamping the poetic kettlepond geology with a straight and level roadbed. Highway 93 is a wall of fear to the grizzly bear, white-tailed deer, mule deer, pronghorn, elk, painted turtle, and bighorn sheep.

…To read the entire article, subscribe to LAM!