For ‘Most Beautiful Roadway,’ an Ugly Fight Over Repairs

It’s been called the most beautiful roadway in America, a breathtaking, high-altitude byway that winds through parts of Montana and Wyoming and links tiny tourist towns to Yellowstone National Park.

But the Beartooth Highway is also dangerous in places, and the estimated cost of bringing a large portion of it up to modern standards -- accommodating bikers, wildlife and wide, slowing-moving RVs -- has soared.

It’s expected to cost far more than early projections, said Terry Haussler, a federal highway official. State and federal officials have been left arguing over who should be responsible for maintaining it.

Yellowstone National Park has, for decades, maintained dozens of miles of the road beyond its borders, but a park spokesman says that the money set aside for the work in the late 1990s is running out -- and that officials probably will have to cut other park projects to pay for future work.

“That’s a recognition of a reality,” spokesman Al Nash said.

Wyoming, faced with pressing needs on more heavily traveled routes, won’t consider adding the highway, also known as U.S. 212, to the state’s system or assuming maintenance until it is rebuilt, Wyoming Transportation Department spokesman Bruce Burrows said.

The soonest work could begin on what looks to be at least a 10-year project is next summer, Haussler said. “It all comes down to money.”

Beartooth Highway winds 67 miles from near the resort town of Red Lodge, Mont., to Yellowstone’s northeastern entrance, west of Cooke City, Mont. It crosses snowcapped mountains, meanders near alpine lakes and, after reaching the 10,947-foot Beartooth Pass, begins a gradual descent into Wyoming.

It was the late broadcast journalist Charles Kuralt, who became famous for his pieces about the nation’s back corners, who dubbed it the “most beautiful roadway in America.”

There’s no denying the road’s significance to local communities, some of which rely heavily on tourism. Mudslides that closed a portion of the highway in Montana last year prompted visits and promises from political leaders to keep businesses operating and get the road reopened as quickly as possible.

Heavy snow forces the road’s closure about half the year. Maintenance crews usually have it open around Memorial Day.

Montana transportation officials maintain the road from Red Lodge to the state line, while the National Park Service handles the rest -- about 45 miles, largely in Wyoming, Nash said.

The odd arrangement has its roots in a 1931 law under which the highway was built to provide access between Yellowstone and Red Lodge.

The 1931 law excerpted in project documents allowed the Interior secretary to enter maintenance agreements with state or local authorities for “national park approach” roads or to “maintain them when otherwise necessary.... “ Maintenance agreements for this section of road have not been reached with either state, documents and officials say, so responsibility for it has fallen to the Park Service.

Plowing and maintaining the road costs about $430,000 a year, Nash said. The money typically came from the park’s operating budget, but in recent years it has been covered under a special Forest Service fund, Nash said. The highway runs through three national forests. That money is running out, he said; the park will have to find the money elsewhere in its budget.

Safety concerns are a driving force behind the reconstruction effort. An environmental study done for the project says the stretch of road can no longer safely handle the vehicles commonly found on it, including RVs and trailer-hauling pickups.