Going to the Sun Road Shuttle System and Visitor Study Synthesis Report

Johnson, Marea; Dimond, Alison; Freimund, Wayne

A five-year study that began in 2005, two years before a shuttle system was initiated in Glacier NP, to gain baseline data on visitor use of roadside viewpoints that could be compared with information collected while the shuttle system was in operation and to assess visitor perceptions of the proposed shuttle system. The research described in this report was conducted over a five-year study period. It began in 2005, two years before the shuttle system was initially put in place to gain baseline data on visitor use of roadside viewpoints that could be compared with information collected while the shuttle system was in operation and to assess visitor perceptions of the proposed shuttle system. Data was gathered through a variety of methods including observations, interviews, surveys, and stakeholder meetings.Phase One, undertaken in the summer of 2005, provided data on visitor types and distribution at 13 viewpoints along the GTSR. The 2006 study compiled baseline data for four major viewpoints along the road. Observations and interviews were conducted at Lake McDonald Lodge, Avalanche Lake Trailhead, Logan Pass, and Sun Point to provide baseline data on visitor behavior at these sites and to gain a better understanding of how the shuttle system might influence visitor behavior and experiences. A stakeholder evaluation was completed in 2007 to assess the impacts of the new shuttle system. Comments about the shuttle system were gathered through 376 surveys from park visitors, local constituents and concessionaires, park volunteers, shuttle drivers, traffic management personnel on the GTSR construction team, and park staff. Observations of visitor use at two additional high use viewpoints, Avalanche Lake and Sunrift Gorge, were completed in 2008 to provide information on visitor use for comparison with data collected before the shuttle service was in place. The final phase of study was conducted during the summer of 2009 at Logan pass and the Loop. Three different surveys were given to visitor: one for people who rode the shuttle, a second for individuals who drove a personal vehicle, and a third for people who had taken a hike in the park.

Going to the Sun Road Shuttle System and Visitor Study Synthesis Report

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