Glacier's Going-to-the-Sun Road: Managing for the Future

By Melissa Sladek

Cars line up to enter Glacier National Park during the 2021 Ticketed Entry Pilot Program.

NPS/Michael Faist

Motors rumble, cars inch forward, exhaust fills the air. The pictured scene more likely describes a day in the life of commuters in an urban area rather than visitors to Glacier National Park. And yet, although the scenery is different, the congestion is real.

Over the past decade, Glacier has seen a 60% increase in visitation. Sixty percent…of which most occurs between Memorial Day and Labor Day and includes a heavy concentration of visitors traveling the park’s renowned Going-to-the-Sun Road (GTSR). The road itself is a National Historic Landmark, known for its beauty and as an engineering marvel. Soon after this land became a national park in 1910, visionaries imagined a high alpine route traversing through the middle of the park, a route that defied what seemed possible in roadway travel. With the construction of the GTSR in the 1920s and eventual completion in 1933, a new path was forged that allowed for scenery beyond expectation in the comfort of one’s automobile.

The vision for the creation of this road became reality, but foreseeing the need to control the numbers of people that would one day traverse it was never imagined. As with many of the country’s larger, popular national parks, Glacier’s surge in visitation has led to the need for visitor use management plans. While managing visitor use plays a part in Glacier’s 1999 General Management Plan, a specific plan to manage use on the GTSR did not come about until 2019. The Going-to-the-Sun Road Corridor Management Plan used social science and visitor use data collected by the University of Montana to inform many of its visitor management actions. This information included visitor use data along the GTSR corridor–how many people used different locations at what times–and visitor experiences–input on noise, crowding, and tolerance to possible changes in GTSR management.

Vehicles wait to enter the Logan Pass Visitor Center parking lot.

NPS Photo

The GTSR Corridor Management Plan tackles one of the critical issues identified in the 1999 General Management Plan–increased visitation and use. The plan identifies possible management actions that could be implemented if certain triggers occur. The plan itself, however, does not address how to operationally implement any of these solutions. With 2019 recorded as the second highest visitation year and continuing COVID-19 challenges, park managers recognized the need to manage access on the GTSR corridor during the 2021 season. But what tools to use were still in question.

Beginning in January, the picture of the 2021 tourism season became increasingly clear–2021 was to be an unprecedented year in terms of visitation. Information from the Montana Tourism Board, the National Park Service, and the local business community showed indications of this trend. In fact, in March of 2021, the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau sent a letter to the park’s superintendent supporting a proposal to implement an advanced reservation system for the peak season in Glacier National Park, stating that such a system, “has great potential to create an enhanced visitor experience.”

Such a tool was being considered by park managers beginning in 2020. Other national parks like Rocky Mountain and Yosemite had piloted ticketed entry systems (TES) in 2020 with success. The idea of implementing a TES in Glacier was beginning to take shape when new information from the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) landed on the Superintendent’s desk. MDT provided further details on the extensive 2021 Highway 2 Pavement Preservation Project and requested the park to implement a ticketed entry system.

Essentially, the need to prevent vehicles from backing onto Highway 2 while waiting to enter the park’s West Entrance was a major priority. This information was “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” according Planning and Compliance Chief Mary Riddle. The decision was made to implement a ticketed entry system to manage visitor use on the GTSR corridor. The question park managers now faced was…how?

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Public Lands Transportation Fellow Ma'ayan Dembo collects traffic data from a radar traffic counter.

NPS Photo

The September sun streams through my office window. Although still busy, West Glacier seems to be moving a little slower than a month ago, like a bear settling in for hibernation. I sit inside facing my computer, observing two women on my screen. One is experienced, knowledgeable, at ease, with a lifetime invested in preserving and protecting our nation’s national parks, and in particular, Glacier National Park. The other is young, confident, data savvy, and filled with a knowledge of and passion for creating livable cities and smart transportation choices.

Mary Riddle, Chief of Planning and Compliance at Glacier National Park, introduces me to Ma’ayan Dembo, a Public Lands Transportation Fellow in the National Park Service Alternative Transportation Program. Ma’ayan was assigned to assist Glacier on transit solutions and visitor use management. Although the internship originally included a variety of pertinent transportation projects, Ma’ayan’s main focus quickly became helping the park implement and track its pilot ticketed entry system (TES).

As their time is precious, I quickly get to the heart of the matter. I ask them what the goals of the 2021 TES were, if they were accomplished, and what was learned during this pilot program. Ma’ayan and Mary walk me back to the winter, identifying the goals for TES and explaining the decision-making process.

Creating the Ticketed Entry System

After the decision was made to implement a ticked entry system, the park formed a Congestion Management Team comprised of key park staff. Team members identified specific goals for the 2021 pilot program.

• Reduce visitor congestion in West Glacier.
• Prevent closure of the West Entrance and gridlock on the GTSR and Highway 2.
• Improve visitor use management throughout the park.
• Provide certainty for visitors entering the park.
• Set visitor expectations and communicate with the public.
• Reopen East Side entrances.

To reduce congestion along the GTSR and thus improve visitor use, planners realized that park goers needed to be spread both spatially and temporally. In other words, the park needed to limit the number of vehicles on the GTSR during historically busy time periods and spread the visitors to other areas of the park. But how many vehicles should the GTSR have on any one given day? Here’s where Ma’ayan’s love of numbers comes in.

Total daily vehicles on the Going-to-the-Sun Road from June 1 to August 28 are shown for years 2019 and 2021. The dotted purple line represents the desired 4,600 daily vehicles.

Looking at visitor use in 2018 and 2019 (2020 data was not used due to COVID impacts), Ma’ayan calculated how many non-ticketed entry vehicles, those exempt from purchasing a GTSR entry pass due to an existing reservation, used the GTSR each day. Vehicles with existing reservations for lodging, camping, or other services are not required to purchase a GTSR entry pass, but still contribute to GTSR congestion. Figures were totaled using historic concessioner reports and campground data. Additionally, Ma’ayan accommodated for the 7-day GTSR entry pass. Knowing that visitors typically spend an average of three days in Glacier, she factored in a 40% “no-show” figure for the remaining unused days.

Once these numbers were calculated, park staff focused on the total number of desired daily vehicles on the GSTR. While managers explored several scenarios, they decided on a daily number of 4,600 vehicles. This amount would essentially shave off high traffic peaks, reducing congestion and avoiding any gridlock that could block emergency traffic. With this total, minus the number of exempt vehicles, Ma’ayan was able to calculate the number of GTSR entry tickets to sell each day on Recreation.gov., an online platform that hosts reservation systems for public land recreation. Advanced 60-day tickets went on sale April 29 and sold out within minutes. This trend continued throughout the 2021 ticked entry season.

Analyzing the Data

Throughout the season, the impacts of ticketed entry were intensely monitored. Radar traffic counters, capable of real-time data, monitored hourly entrances and exits at the West, St. Mary, and Camas Road Entrances. Additional traffic counters at Polebridge, Two Medicine, and Many Glacier tracked vehicles entering those areas and the impact of displaced visitors from the GTSR corridor. Additionally, field staff reported hourly fill times for parking lots and pull-outs along the road. Ongoing monitoring of trails and parking lots by University of Montana researchers also contributed to overall data. This real-time data capture allowed for the release of additional tickets throughout the season, as park managers determined the actual number of daily vehicles the GTSR could contain and still avoid gridlock.

This graph highlights the difference between 2019 and 2021 hourly entries along the Going-to-the-Sun Road (GTSR). The 2021 line shows spikes in the early morning and after 5:00 p.m. This change from 2019 shows the effect that ticketed entry had on GTSR visitation.

Results

Even though it’s long past lunchtime, I can see Ma’ayan grab a quick bite as we talk. Her day has been filled with meetings and finalizing reports. As her fellowship nears its end, she is busy crunching numbers and providing results. My own mind now churns with facts and figures, and I am amazed by the amount of data and input needed to not only create Glacier’s ticketed entry system, but also to track it. Managing visitor use in a large national park takes a team of people with a large array of skillsets. Essentially little cities, parks like Glacier have plumbers, educators, road crews, landscapers…so it makes sense that transportation planners are another critical expertise needed in many national parks.

I interrupt Ma’ayan mid-bite and ask the inevitable question, “In your opinion, was ticketed entry a success? Did park managers meet their identified goals?” Without hesitation, Ma’ayan responds with affirmation.

“The goals of ticketed entry included reducing congestion on the GTSR and in West Glacier. The pilot ticketed entry system accomplished this by spreading out visitors spatially, to other areas of the park, and temporally, throughout the day and before 6:00 a.m. and after 5:00 p.m.” Ma’ayan goes on to explain that even though the daily number of vehicles rose well above the planned 4,600 vehicles, gridlock did not occur on the GTSR or at the West Entrance during ticketed entry. Vehicle entries did spike before 6:00 a.m. and after 5:00 p.m., when ticketed entry was not in place, but this was not enough to cause gridlock or close the West Entrance. Ma’ayan also estimates, looking at data from high use days, that without ticketed entry in place, the West Entrance would have closed 35 times.

A park ranger talks to visitors about Glacier's ticketed entry system.

NPS Photo

Overall, there was a 12% decrease in vehicles on the GTSR from Memorial Day through the end of August. Some of these vehicles may have turned around and left the park entirely while others continued to other destinations such as the Two Medicine and North Fork valleys. Both of these locations saw an increase in visitation between 2019 and 2021, 33% and 20% respectfully.

Additionally, Ma’ayan noticed that post-ticketed entry data showed some interesting results. After Labor Day, the decrease in entries at St. Mary seen during ticketed entry rebounded to numbers similar to 2019. At the West Entrance, visitation increased by 12% after ticketed entry concluded. More interestingly however is that this increase is 10% higher than 2019 figures.

What does this mean? Ma’ayan explains that it’s hard to know exactly how to interpret these results, but it could point to how busy the park might have been without ticketed entry in place. In the end, Mary explains what the data during and after ticketed entry does tell us. “We managed the number of people coming in, and we managed it at a level where we were able to serve those visitors as well as protect resources.” With limited staff and services due to COVID-19, this was a major goal for the overall program and for the 2021 summer season.

Next Steps

Now comes the hard part. Although Glacier’s ticketed entry system addressed GTSR congestion and closure issues, opportunities for improvement remain–reducing impacts to other areas of the park for example. Park leadership will review the data gathered during the 2021 pilot year and decide how to best manage visitor use in 2022. They will discuss:

• When and where to implement ticketed entry.
• Review impacts to other areas in the park.
• Consider effects on nocturnal wildlife from late evening/early morning visitation.
• Create and implement strategies of how to communicate the 2022 ticketed entry system to business owners, visitors, and area public land managers.

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Wrapping up our meeting, Ma’ayan informs me that she is off to a new adventure. She will use her talents to work for a company that improves transit efficiency. Her impending absence clarifies Glacier’s need for employees with experience in transportation and visitor use management–a movement occurring throughout the National Park Service. It is hard to predict the future–what this place will look like in years to come–but just as the vision to build an improbable, high alpine road became a reality, so too will finding a way to conserve and manage this place for future generations.