Post by Poor Richard on Jul 13, 2023 17:41:04 GMT -7
Increase in drivers brings increased risk on Highway 191
KBZK reports "In the past few years, more and more people have been using Highway 191 to commute to and from Big Sky. People who take this road daily are noticing that it's becoming more dangerous.
Mac Harrison has been commuting to Big Sky for over two years and says the canyon has been noticeably worse.
"Every single day I feel unsafe driving the canyon," said Harrison. "It's an absolute mess. It's just accidents every week and traffic."
Gallatin County Sheriff's Sergeant Daniel Haydon says the number of cars on Lone Mountain Trail has increased drastically.
"The state has a traffic counter on Lone Mountain Trail, and if you look at the data on that, the number of vehicles traveling that road on average per day is more than doubled in the last decade," said Sgt. Haydon. "I looked at it a couple of years ago, it was an average of over 9000 vehicles a day."
Sgt. Haydon says there have been significant improvements to the canyon and Big Sky. He insists that the most severe accidents occur when speed, alcohol, or no seatbelts are involved.
He believes there aren't more accidents on average, just more people.
“Are there more crashes? Yes. But are there a lot more vehicles? Yes,” said Haydon.
Sgt. Haydon blames some of the traffic in Big Sky on the Highway 64 projects that will bring improvements including road widening and turn lanes.
"We just have to recognize that while this is going on, we need to spend a little bit more time on our commute plan to be there a little bit earlier because we have no choice. We're going to have to deal with this traffic," said Sgt. Haydon.
Harrison does just that.
"I feel like we're usually leaving either half an hour early or an hour late to try to avoid the rush hour," said Harrison."
Mac Harrison has been commuting to Big Sky for over two years and says the canyon has been noticeably worse.
"Every single day I feel unsafe driving the canyon," said Harrison. "It's an absolute mess. It's just accidents every week and traffic."
Gallatin County Sheriff's Sergeant Daniel Haydon says the number of cars on Lone Mountain Trail has increased drastically.
"The state has a traffic counter on Lone Mountain Trail, and if you look at the data on that, the number of vehicles traveling that road on average per day is more than doubled in the last decade," said Sgt. Haydon. "I looked at it a couple of years ago, it was an average of over 9000 vehicles a day."
Sgt. Haydon says there have been significant improvements to the canyon and Big Sky. He insists that the most severe accidents occur when speed, alcohol, or no seatbelts are involved.
He believes there aren't more accidents on average, just more people.
“Are there more crashes? Yes. But are there a lot more vehicles? Yes,” said Haydon.
Sgt. Haydon blames some of the traffic in Big Sky on the Highway 64 projects that will bring improvements including road widening and turn lanes.
"We just have to recognize that while this is going on, we need to spend a little bit more time on our commute plan to be there a little bit earlier because we have no choice. We're going to have to deal with this traffic," said Sgt. Haydon.
Harrison does just that.
"I feel like we're usually leaving either half an hour early or an hour late to try to avoid the rush hour," said Harrison."