Spring runoff a challenge for county road crews

A snowy winter that required considerably more manpower to keep county roads plowed and sanded has now created spring water problems throughout Flathead County, Public Works Director Dave Prunty said.

Prunty showed Road Department statistics to the county commissioners on Monday, pointing out what he termed a “tremendous increase” in the amount of winter road maintenance that was required during a winter that was the third-snowiest on record for the Kalispell area.

Year to date, road crews have spent 5,055 hours plowing roads, compared to 3,235 hours at the same point last year. Crews spent 6,758 hours sanding, compared to 4,372 hours last year. While the extra work stretched the road budget, it didn’t negatively impact it, Prunty said.

“You can see how busy we were in winter maintenance,” he said. “What I budgeted for in winter maintenance, we absolutely used that up, but we had savings in other areas.”

Spring weight limits have been posted on roads throughout the county and will remain in effect for at least another two weeks before they are pulled from the valley floor.

What is left after all that snow is an amazing amount of water, Prunty said. He drove on Foys Canyon Road last weekend and witnessed water “coming up through the asphalt, in the center line.

“There’s one hell of a lot of water in this valley right now, a lot of groundwater coming up,” Prunty said during his monthly report to the commissioners.

Tamarack Lane on the north end of Columbia Falls had water over the roadway last weekend, but the water has since receded. Road officials checked on Tamarack Lane again Tuesday and found that while the road is now above water, there is still a lot of ponded water in that area, Prunty said.

Rabe Road, off Blankenship Road, is passable, Prunty said, but the county has a significant amount of work to do on that stretch of road. Drainage and road improvements are planned for this summer.

“Last year’s heavy June rains caused that road issues,” he said. “We repaired what we could, but there is more work to be done … there is still snow left there and it’s in a wet area to begin with. It could be toward the back end of summer” before work begins on Rabe Road.

On Saturday night the Sheriff’s Office called out the Road Department to open a culvert at the base of Wurtz Hill on the North Fork Road.

“We would have lost a significant chunk of the North Fork Road if we hadn’t done that,” Prunty said.

There was some slight damage to the North Fork Road, he added.

“We’re out chasing water in a whole lot of areas,” Prunty said.

While water is subsiding on the valley floor, as the snow melts higher up, problems will continue for a while, he said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.