Paving the way: Road repairs along Blackfoot will reduce dust, but may increase traffic | Montana Untamed

Right now, there are no cars on the approximately 5.7 mile stretch of road between Messina Drive near Montana Highway 200 and the Whitaker Bridge upstream. The road has been closed for paving since May 31 and is slated to reopen at the end of October. The $5 million project, undertaken by the Bureau of Land Management and the Federal Highway Administration, aims to reduce long-term maintenance costs on the road while also eliminating potholes and washboards on the dirt road. Paving the road should also eliminate the cloud of dust that choked the adjacent river when a high volume of cars traveled the route.

But, with pavement, road and river users are worried the volume of traffic and the speed of traffic could increase even more.

“I think we got 12 comments from the public when we put this out for public comment, and that was definitely one of the types of comments that we got,” Katie Stevens, the BLM’s district manager for western Montana, said on Monday. “Generally we think this area’s going to experience recreation growth regardless of the road condition. So that was an important factor for us in figuring out how the area can handle that visitation.”

Stevens said the BLM had determined that about 40,000 people accessed the lower Blackfoot River corridor annually. That number will likely increase once the road is paved, but she said it’s hard to tell whether increased use is because the road is paved or because the Missoula area is growing. Use was already increasing on the dirt road. Because it’s tough to differentiate the causes of possible increased traffic, she said, the agency didn’t create specific projections of future use after paving.

“I wouldn’t say we detailed numeric projections because the visitation is increasing already … so it would be a little hard to parse out,” she said.

Regardless, the paving project does entail some traffic controls and the speed limit will be lowered when the road reopens. Where the road was previously 35 mph, it will now be 30 mph. Signage will go up, speed bumps will be installed. Metal guardrail will replace concrete barriers “in important locations,” Stevens said, and “we’re committing to an education and enforcement effort on this.”

Beyond improving the road and reducing dust, and possibly increasing traffic and traffic speeds, the paving project will also save the BLM’s Missoula Field Office a lot of maintenance money that can go to other, neglected roads instead. Stevens said increasing use on the Johnsrud road drew so much maintenance money it prevented the agency from performing maintenance on other dirt roads used by anglers and other user groups. With this road paved, more money will flow to better maintaining more dirt roads in the area.

“It really has prevented us from maintaining some of the other roads in the area,” she said. “Folks should actually see better access on other roads.”

Stevens said “the trade-offs are never straightforward,” and that “we’re going to need the public to use the area the way it’s designed to be used.”

John Herzer, owner of Blackfoot River Guides and a longtime fly-fishing guide, is keenly aware of, and conflicted by, those trade-offs.

“I’m kind of torn for those exact reasons, right? I’ve gone down that river for 30 years on that stretch. Twenty-five years ago it was no big deal,” he said on Monday, noting that he saw traffic, and “a dust cloud over the water,” increase about 15 years ago.

“I get the reason for paving it, but it kept people going slow.”

The Johnsrud road was “such a pain in the ass, to be honest,” he acknowledged, and he drove it maybe “one out of 20 times” he was in the area, preferring the longer but smoother trip around the Ninemile Prairie Road instead.

“I wouldn’t even go out that way because it was rough, and I know that kept guides from doing it.”

Herzer said he worried about drivers going too fast once the road is paved, but he said he would probably drive the road once it becomes a ribbon of smooth asphalt along the river. As the owner of a large outfitting business, he recognizes that “we’re part of the problem with the crowding on the river.”

“I sell boats, I’m part of the problem,” he said, adding that he is having conversations with his guides about where to go and how often. “We’re having those conversations of what can we do so we can sleep well. We’re already part of the problem, and we don’t want to exacerbate it.”

Whether guided or on their own, river users floating the lower Blackfoot or traveling Johnsrud-McNamara Road once it’s paved will experience far less dust and a much better road. But is it worth the possible consequences of paving? It depends who you ask.

“I don’t want to be a jerk about it, I get it,” Herzer said. “I don’t want all that dust in there, but I don’t know if paving over it is the answer.”

Or, as Stevens said: “Folks might find that some of the concerns aren’t as big of a concern as they seem today.”