Gas tax proceeds to help fix wildfire-damaged road

Lincoln County will apply gas tax proceeds resulting from 2017 legislation toward repairing a portion of West Kootenai Road.

The $175,000 project, outlined in Resolution 2018-03, was approved in a 2-0 vote by county commissioners Jerry Bennett and Mike Cole on April 4. Commissioner Mark Peck was out of town on business.

County Administrator Darren Coldwell estimated the county’s portion of the cost will be $80,000 to $100,000.

Described as a road lift and resurface, the project will affect about the final mile of West Kootenai Road at its west end. It will entail ripping up the road, rebuilding it with better drainage, and then resurfacing it.

The estimated cost includes $73,000 for materials, $85,200 for equipment and $16,800 for labor.

“We hope to have the project done by Oct. 1,” Coldwell said Thursday via email.

That section of road was already in rough shape, Coldwell said, before heavy equipment traffic during the Caribou fire of 2017 worsened its condition.

The state funds will come from the Bridge and Road Safety and Accountability Account that was created by HB 473 during the 2017 session of the Montana Legislature.