Canyon trail on track for next year

The nonprofit group seeking to build a separated bike path from Columbia Falls to Glacier National Park has talked with Glencore about acquiring a trail easement along the east side of the Flathead River near Columbia Falls.

The Anaconda Aluminum Co. purchased the land for an environmental buffer in the 1970s. Swiss-based Glencore is the current owner of the mothballed Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. smelter.

“We’re hoping Glencore will step up,” Gateway to Glacier Trail chairwoman Sarah Dakin said.

The trail group has raised $180,000 for an eight-mile segment of bike/pedestrian path from Coram to West Glacier. That section is expected to be constructed sometime next summer.

In December 2013, the Flathead County commissioners awarded the Gateway to Glacier Trail program $845,811 in Community Transportation Enhancement Program money to build the Coram to West Glacier trail. The group was required to raise a 13.42 percent local match.

The commissioners on Oct. 6 unanimously selected Thomas, Dean & Hoskins as the engineering firm for the Coram to West Glacier segment.

Gateway to Glacier Trail has successfully lobbied the Montana Department of Transportation to include a bike path from Columbia Heights, through Badrock Canyon and across the South Fork of the Flathead River as part of a planned highway upgrade that may begin next year. Replacement of the U.S. 2 bridge over the South Fork is projected for 2017.

The group is now actively fundraising for the three-mile section from the U.S. bridge over the Flathead River at Columbia Falls to the House of Mystery. Dakin estimated it will cost from $100,000 to $200,000 per mile for that stretch of trail.