One of the main roads to Glacier National Park is getting a facelift.

Over the next two years, the Montana Department of Transportation plans to enhance a 9-mile stretch of Highway 206 just south of Columbia Falls by widening the roadway, flattening steep slopes and installing new guardrails.

According to John Schmidt, the Missoula District Construction Operations Engineer for MDT, the $8 million project will be funded through the federal Highway Safety Improvement Program, a program aimed at reducing traffic fatalities and serious injuries on public highways. Since 2007, MDT has used the program to help improve a number or Montana’s roadways as part of its Vision Zero campaign, which has helped drastically reduce the number of serious injuries and fatalities on the state’s roadways.

Information provided by MDT at a public meeting at Deer Park School last week showed that 5,140 vehicles per day traveled Highway 206 in 2016 and that number is expected to grow to as many as 7,800 by 2037.

From 2007 to 2013, the Montana Highway Patrol reported 171 crashes along the area that will see improvements, including 78 where the crash was caused by the vehicle leaving the roadway along steep embankments. From 2014 to 2017, there were an addition 116 roadway departure crashes along the stretch, resulting in three fatalities and eight serious injuries.

The MDT is currently in the process of acquiring the right-of-way from land owners along the proposed work area and plans to begin construction in the spring of 2020.

“We are expecting the acquisition of right of way to go the same as it would with any other job,” Schmidt said. “We will be in touch with the landowners and working with them to make sure this is a smooth process and we are looking forward to getting to work in the spring.”

The initial phase of the project in 2020 will widen the roadway by adding four-foot shoulders to both sides while also flattening some of the steep slopes along the sides of the road. Guardrails will be installed in areas where flattening of the slope is not possible.

The 2021 phase will see the road resurfaced and chip sealed with the addition of rumble strips on the shoulders and along the centerline.

According to Schmidt, MDT does not expect major traffic disruptions during the work, but there could be some times when the road will be reduced to one lane of travel.

“Most of the designs have been worked out and we are excited to move forward with this project,” Schmidt said. “It really looks like it should go smoothly.”