Montana’s non-interstate, rural roads have the fifth-highest fatality rate in the nation for such roads, a recently released report by a national transportation research group says.
TRIP, a national non-profit based in Washington, D.C., found a rate of 2.81 fatalities for each 100 million vehicle miles of travel on Montana’s rural roads. That is three times higher than the fatality rate on all other roads in the state, says the report. The report also finds nine percent of Montana’s rural bridges are rated as structurally deficient. That places the state roughly in the middle.
“While we’re very pleased that the legislature and the Governor’s office came together to pass the first fuel tax increase in over two decades in Montana, we continue to face mounting roadway infrastructure deficits and need to continue the conversation about long-term solutions,” said Darryl James, executive director of the Montana Infrastructure Coalition. “As a large and sparsely-populated state, we cannot ignore the critical importance of maintaining our rural roads for the safety of our rural families and the economic security of our agricultural sector,” he said. “Our producers lie great distances from markets, so we need to think long term about appropriate investment in our transportation infrastructure to keep them connected and competitive.”
“Rural roads are where Montana farmers and ranchers make their living,” said Montana Farm Bureau President Hans McPherson. “No one has to tell them that poorly maintained roads cost them a significant amount of money in wear and tear on trucks and equipment.”
Besides saving lives and aiding agricultural producers, improved rural roads are a key factor in tourism economics, experts said. “Crumbling bridges, poorly maintained roads and congested highways discourage travel, threatening the entire U.S. economy,” said Erik Hansen, vice president of government relations for the U.S. Travel Association.
Jefferson County began an aggressive program to replace rural bridges in 2006, commissioning an engineering study to examine bridges. Since then, the county has applied for and received several grants and loans and has replaced many of the bridges in the most need. The county also has seen major rebuilding projects on Highway 69 in the recent past, and many of the miles traveled in the county are on one of the two interstates that pass through, I-15 and I-90.
According to the most recent annual report by the Montana Highway Patrol, of 171 fatal crashes in 2016, 30 were on interstates and 12 in urban areas, with the rest coming on the state’s lesser highways and rural roads. Strictly rural roads accounted for 43 fatal crashes, more than a quarter of the total. Of the 22,586 total vehicle crashes in 2016 in Montana, 1472 or 6.5 percent were on rural roads.
Based on figures available in the 2016 MHP report, rural route crashes resulted in fatalities about three percent of the time compared with six-tenths of one percent of the 4755 interstate crashes that ended in fatalities.
“The safety and quality of life in America’s small communities and rural areas and the health of the nation’s economy ride on our rural transportation system,” said Will Wilkins, executive director of TRIP. “Fixing the federal Highway Trust Fund with a long-term, sustainable source of revenue that supports the transportation investment needed will be crucial to the modernization of our rural transportation system.”
