Officials hope to receive funding for road

Escaping life in the city limits and enjoying the beautiful backcountry that Lincoln County has to offer, a growing number of people have purchased property in the Yaak.

The views, nature and sparkling streams certainly enhance the quality of life. However, the drive into town can be harrowing – especially in the stretch from Yaak to the ski area turnoff. Local officials hope to eventually make that journey a little safer through a federal grant.

“We would like to work with the county on this project,” Paul Stantus of Kootenai National Forest said in reference to the Pipe Creek/South Fork of the Yaak road. “Now nothing happens very quickly but at least we need to get in on their radar screen as a need.”

In this case, “they” refers to the Forest Highway Program that receives funding through the Federal Highway Administration. In this region, the Western Federal Lands Highway Division oversees projects and has put out a call for future work.

But when Stantus says nothing happens quickly, he’s not kidding. The first phase of work on Pipe Creek Road beyond the Red Dog Saloon will not start until after 2013. This newest quest to work on the route all the way to the community of Yaak could be years and years down the road.

“On these projects, they ask that one of the local road agencies – in this case on the Pipe Creek Road that would be Lincoln County and the Forest Service – submit projects to them,” Stantus said. “Then they get on this long list of projects and it takes quite a few years for them to get funded.”

The Pipe Creek/South Fork of the Yaak road falls under the designation of “forest highway” – a term that originated in 1921 with the Federal Highway Act. The roads served national forests and adjacent communities.

“They were built many, many years ago to transport forest products,” Stantus said. “One of those is Bull River Road. Another is U.S. 93 between Eureka and Whitefish and one is the Pipe Creek-South Fork of the Yaak road that runs up to the Red Dog and up to the town of Yaak.”

The first phase of the Pipe Creek Road work runs from milepost 7 near the Red Dog to just north of Noisy Creek.

“What they’ve told us is it depends on how much money they receive in that particular year and that’s how far they’ll complete that project,” Stantus said. “The earliest that will happen is sometime beyond 2013.”

The next phase of the project would then continue on to the Turner Mountain Ski Area junction vicinity around milepost 20.

“And then what I wanted to do was get that piece of the road from Turner out to the Yaak in the program somewhere,” Stantus said.

Stantus asked Lincoln County commissioners on Jan. 6 if they would support the project as a priority.

“Maybe we can push it forward and get it going,” said commissioner John Konzen. “Improvements would make a lot of difference. You have a willing audience here.”

Another possible project to comment on that Konzen mentioned could be on the Yaak Road where asphalt is starting to let loose in some spots.

The two funding methods through the federal program involve safety and preservation. In the case of Pipe Creek Road, safety comes into play while the Yaak Road falls under preservation.

“With preservation, we’re talking about overlays, chip seals … preserving what is there,” Stantus said. “We’re not asking for new roads to be added to the forest highway system.”

Stantus believes the Pipe Creek/South Fork of the Yaak road needs to be improved because of the increasing traffic.

“A lot of residents have bought properties up there over the years and they use that road in the wintertime,” he said. “In the summertime the road is not very good but in the wintertime, it’s pretty dangerous. … Every winter, that really worries me because there are residents from the Yaak trying to commute.”

Through the program, Montana receives $11.6 million on an annual basis.

“That’s all that’s funded out of the program and there are quite a few forest highways in the state,” Stantus said.