US 89 in Montana

According to Iamaccepted, US 89 is a US Highway in the US state of Montana. The road forms a north-south route through the west and center of the state, from Yellowstone National Park at the Wyoming border through Livingston and Great Falls to the Canadian border. The road is 630 kilometers long.

Travel directions

At Gardiner, US 89 in Wyoming enters the state of Montana from Yellowstone National Park at an elevation of 1,700 meters. US 89 then follows a route north along the Yellowstone River. One comes through an ever-widening valley with mountains up to 3000 meters on both sides. After about 90 kilometers you reach Livingston, where there is a short double numbering with Interstate 90. The US 191. also expiresabout this. A little further on, US 89 turns north and begins a 60-mile route to White Sulfur Springs. This part of the route is a lot flatter and leads over plains with a number of mountain ranges both to the west and east, mainly the Big Belt Mountains. Around White Sulfur Springs, US 89 is double -numbered with US 12.

US 89 near Babb.

After this, the road cuts through the Little Belt Mountain and rises to an altitude of about 2300 meters. The Little Belt Mountains are an isolated mountain range on the High Plains. A little way north of the mountains, US 87 merges from Billings and both roads merge for 20 miles to the town of Great Falls. In Great Falls, US 87 exits to Havre in the northeast, while US 89 runs through Great Falls to the northwest. On the west side of town, the road merges with Interstate 15 for a short double-numbering to Vaughn. Then US 89 turns off and heads northwest. After about 60 kilometers the US 287 ends at Choteaufrom Helena on US 89, then the road east of the Rocky Mountains turns north into the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. To the west, high mountains are visible. In the village of Browning you cross the US 2. This is followed by another 80 kilometers to the border with Canada. The last part runs close to Glacier National Park. On the Canadian side, Highway 2 in Alberta continues to Calgary.

History

According to acronymmonster.com, US 89 was created in 1926, but was not yet passing through Montana at the time. The section south of Armington near Great Falls was then numbered US 87W. In 1934, the route was extended from Utah north to the border with Canada, creating the current route through Montana. US 89 has become a lot less important for through traffic after the completion of Interstate 15.

At the time the route was extended through Montana, several longer stretches were already paved, including the portion from the Wyoming border to Livingston, from Armington to Great Falls, and most of it between Great Falls and the Canadian border. The longest missing stretch was between Livingston and Armington on the middle section of the route, which at the time was still unpaved for over 200 miles.

In the second half of the 1930s, work started on asphalting the middle part, but when the Second World War broke out, several parts were still a gravel road. During the Second World War, hardly any public works were carried out in the United States, in most states the development of the road network came to a standstill. By 1949 the section between Livingston and White Sulfur Springs had been paved throughout, the section through the Little Belt Mountains north of White Sulfur Springs was last paved between 1953 and 1957.

The road was of relatively minor importance to through traffic, at the time US 91 was the dominant north-south route in the region, running more westerly south of Great Falls and north of Great Falls more east. Interstate 15 was built over US 91 in the 1960s-70s, leaving only US 89 as an individual route.

Traffic intensities

Every day, 2,000 to 2,500 vehicles travel between the Wyoming and Livingston border and 500 to 1,300 vehicles continue to White Sulfur Springs and 500 to 700 vehicles to Armington, then 3,900 vehicles to Great Falls. From Great Falls to Choteau, intensities drop from 4,700 to 1,400 vehicles and 600 to 1,000 vehicles to Browning. The final stretch to the Canadian border handles 500 vehicles a day.