BILLINGS, Mont.-
It's been called the "most beautiful roadway in America," a breathtaking, high-altitude byway that winds through parts of Montana and Wyoming and links tiny tourist towns to Yellowstone National Park.
But the Beartooth Highway is also dangerous in places, and the estimated cost of bringing a large portion of it to modern standards, accommodating of bikers, wildlife and the wide, slowing moving RVs that frequently travel it, has soared in recent years.
It's now expected to cost far more than early projections, said Terry Haussler, a federal highway official, and state and federal officials have been left arguing over who should be responsible for maintaining it.
Yellowstone National Park has, for decades, maintained dozens of miles of the road beyond its borders, but a park spokesman says the money set aside for the work in the late 1990s is running out–and that officials will likely have to cut other park projects to pay for future work.
Wyoming, faced with more pressing needs on more heavily traveled routes, won't consider adding the highway, also known as U.S. 212, to the state's system or assuming maintenance until it is rebuilt, Wyoming transportation department spokesman Bruce Burrows said.
The soonest work could begin on what now looks to be at least a 10-year project is next summer, Haussler said, but he added: "It all comes down to money."
The Beartooth Highway slowly winds 67 miles, from near the resort town of Red Lodge, Mont., to Yellowstone's northeastern entrance, just west of Cooke City, Mont. In between, it crosses snowcapped, windswept mountains; meanders near alpine lakes; and after reaching the 10,947-foot Beartooth Pass, begins a gradual descent into Wyoming.
It was the late journalist Charles Kuralt, who became famous for his pieces about the nation's back corners, who dubbed it the "most beautiful roadway in America."
