By Jason Stuart
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
Funding to substantially repair or possibly completely rebuild the entrance road to Makoshika State Park is included in a capital projects appropriation bill before the Montana Legislature.
The funding for the Makoshika entrance road — $2.1 million of it — is included in HB 5. The bill contains funding for a smattering of capital improvement projects and state agency programs specifically requested by Gov. Steve Bullock’s Office of the Budget and Program Planning.
“That money is in the governor’s budget, and it’s intended for redoing the road to the base of the switchbacks and replacing the Diane Gabriel (Trail) bridge,” said Doug Habermann, Region 5 manager for Montana State Parks.
HB 5 also contains specific appropriations requests for Lewis and Clark Caverns and Bannack state parks. The bill requests $2.2 million for electrical and lighting upgrades at Lewis and Clark Caverns and $1.65 million for preservation work at Bannack. Both of those items were included in Bullock’s budget request to the 2015 Legislature, with both failing to gain approval at that time.
The Makoshika entrance road has been in extremely rough shape for the last couple of years. The road had not been in great condition before the project to rebuild the switchbacks section of it, but it especially took a beating during that project. The heavy equipment rumbling over the road for several months caused a great deal more damage to it than Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks construction officials had anticipated.
The pedestrian bridge over a coulee on the Diane Gabriel Trail was closed to the public last summer after engineers determined it was near collapse.
Makoshika manager Chris Dantic said parks officials are hopeful that if the funding is approved, they can rebuild the road all the way from the visitors center to the switchbacks.
“More than likely, the whole thing would be redone, that’s what we’re looking at,” he said.
Local Rep. Alan Doane is aware of the appropriations request for the road and agrees it’s something Makoshika desperately needs.
However, Doane is also trying to find an appropriate legislative vehicle to request an appropriation for a potable water line and new campground facility at the park, another development the park desperately needs to improve its visitor experience and potentially draw even more people into the park, thus boosting the local economy.
In fact, Doane expressed a little concern that the road funding request could be a case of putting the cart before the horse. He said it would make little sense to repair the road then come in with the water line and campground project, lest the same thing happen to it that happened during the switchbacks project – it gets badly beaten up by heavy equipment rolling over it for a couple of months.
“You put in the water line and the campground and the last thing you do is replace the road,” Doane said.
That being said, Doane would be thrilled to see the Legislature approve both the road appropriation and the water line/campground project, but he acknowledged that with state revenues down and legislators battling over every penny, that seems like a long shot.
“We might be able in a best, best, best case scenario to get both, but I’m not holding my breath,” he said.
Reach Jason Stuart at rrreporter@rangerreview.com.