Transportation in Montana

Transportation in Montana

Construction sign for I-90 in Montana during the mid-20th century
Overview
Transit type	Rapid transit, commuter rail, buses, private automobile, taxicab, bicycle, pedestrian, highways
Website	http://www.mdt.mt.gov/
Operation
Operator(s)	Montana Department of Transportation
Main highways map

Transportation in Montana comprises many different forms of travel. Montana shares a long border with Canada, hence international crossings are prevalent in the northern section of the state; there are 13 road crossings and one rail crossing.

As the fourth-largest state in the United States,^[1] journeying from one side to the other takes a long time. The state has an extensive network of roads, including state highways, Interstate highways and U.S. routes. Rail connections are also well-established and were an important method of transportation in Montana since the 1880s. Within individual cities, public transportation includes rapid transit and high-frequency bus services.

For travel further afield, 16 airports are operational within Montana. Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport in Gallatin County is the busiest airport and there are another seven major airports and eight minor ones providing commercial services.

Roads

U.S. Route 93 in Montana

Montana has approximately 70,000 miles (112,654 km) of highways which start in, pass through or are entirely inside the state.^[2]

Interstate highways

1,198.8 miles (1929.2 km) of the Interstate Highway System, which serve as a thoroughfare for long-distance road journeys, is contained within Montana, and all of these are maintained by the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT). All the interstates originate at or pass through the Helena area, the state capital.

Montana's Interstate highways are as follows:^[3]

• I‑15 – Monida, Sweetgrass
  • I‑115 – Butte, Downtown Butte
  • I‑315 – Great Falls, Downtown Great Falls
• I‑90 – Mullan, Ranchester
• I‑94 – Billings, Beach

U.S. highways

Click to enlarge detailed map

Ten national U.S. routes are within the state:^[4]

• US 2 – Troy, Bainville
• US 12 – Lolo Hot Springs, Marmarth
• US 20 – Henrys Lake, Yellowstone National Park
• US 87 – Ranchester, Havre
• US 89 – Yellowstone National Park, Carway
• US 93 – Lost Trail Pass, Roosville
• US 191 – Yellowstone National Park, Loring
• US 212 – Red Lodge, Cooke City
• US 287 – Yellowstone National Park, Choteau
• US 310 – Frannie, Laurel

Car license plate design issued in Montana between 2006 and 2009

Mountain Line buses queue to pick up passengers in Missoula.

In addition to these primary routes, Montana has a large number of state highways and smaller secondary routes.^[4]

Vehicles

Vehicles themselves in Montana are required to display a Montana licence plate on the back and front^[5] by the Department of Motor Vehicles. Eight different designs have been issued since drivers were required to register their cars in 1913.^[6]

Mass transit

Bus

The public transportation system in Montana is sparse as a whole, but several individual cities have local bus networks.

Across Montana, the bus network does not have a large amount of intercity routes but Greyhound Lines goes to 20 cities including Helena, Sidney and Bozeman, connecting passengers with journey frequencies of between once to five times per day.^[7]

An Amtrak passenger locomotive in Essex

Montana Rail Link freight haulage in 2005

Some individual cities have their own bus network provided by a transit corporation. The locales of Missoula, Billings and Great Falls are served by buses by ASUM Transportation,^[8][9] Mountain Line,^[10] MET Transit,^[11][12] and Great Falls Transit^[13][14] respectively. They all run routes with fairly frequent schedules allowing commuters quick movement around different areas of the cities. The Mountain Line public transit system runs twelve services around the city and the University of Montana. It is indirectly controlled by the local government which have appointed members onto the board of the transportation district.

Railroads

Historically, the state was traversed by the main lines of east to west transcontinental routes: the Milwaukee Road, the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific.^[15]

All passenger rail in Montana is provided by Amtrak. Twelve stations exist within the state.^[16] All along the line Empire Builder, they serve communities along the most northern section of Montana which carries on out either side into Idaho and North Dakota.

In terms of freight transportation, the BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad with 1,983 miles (3,191 km) of track in Montana. The Class II Montana Rail Link operates 817 miles (1,315 km) of track leased from BNSF within the state. A number of other small railroad companies also exist.^[17]

Many now-defunct historical railroads existed in the industrial period of the 19th and early 20th century:^[15]

Aviation

An Airbus A319 waits at Billings Logan International Airport.

Map of domestic flights available from the largest airport in Montana (Click to enlarge)

Commercial air travel is common in Montana and there are up to 71 public and private airports in the state. The largest is Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport, located eight miles northwest of Bozeman, an hour and forty minutes away by road from Helena.^[18] The next largest is Billings Logan International Airport, near Billings, which has three runways and had over 388,000 enplanements in 2010.

The busiest domestic destinations from Montana are Denver, Colorado, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Salt Lake City, Utah, and the main airlines are Silver Airways and United Express.^[19]

See also

• Transportation in South Dakota

References

State of Montana Helena (capital) Topics Index Congressional delegations Geography Government Governors History bibliography People Protected areas Sports State symbols Transportation Visitor attractions Society Crime Culture Demographics Economy Education Politics Regions Eastern Montana The Flathead Glacier National Park Regional designations of Montana Western Montana Yellowstone Largest cities Anaconda Belgrade Billings Bozeman Butte Columbia Falls Dillon Glendive Great Falls Hamilton Havre Helena Kalispell Laurel Lewistown Livingston Miles City Missoula Polson Sidney Whitefish Counties Beaverhead Big Horn Blaine Broadwater Carbon Carter Cascade Chouteau Custer Daniels Dawson Deer Lodge Fallon Fergus Flathead Gallatin Garfield Glacier Golden Valley Granite Hill Jefferson Judith Basin Lake Lewis and Clark Liberty Lincoln Madison McCone Meagher Mineral Missoula Musselshell Park Petroleum Phillips Pondera Powder River Powell Prairie Ravalli Richland Roosevelt Rosebud Sanders Sheridan Silver Bow Stillwater Sweet Grass Teton Toole Treasure Valley Wheatland Wibaux Yellowstone