The road was first conceived by superintendent George Goodwin in 1917, who became the chief engineer of the Park Service the following year. Going-to-the-Sun Road is notable as one of the first National Park Service projects specifically intended to accommodate the automobile-borne tourist. The speed limits are 45 mph (72 km/h) in the lower elevations and 25 mph (40 km/h) in the steeper and winding alpine sections. Prior to the construction of the road, visitors would need to spend several days travelling through the central part of the park, an area which can now be traversed within a few hours, excluding any stops for sightseeing or construction. Vehicles over 10 feet (3.0 m) in height may not have sufficient clearance due to rock overhangs when driving west between Logan Pass and the hairpin turn called the Loop. Consequently, vehicle lengths over the highest portions of the roadway are limited to no longer than 21 feet (6.4 m) and no wider than 8 feet (2.4 m) between Avalanche Creek and Rising Sun picnic areas which are located many miles below Logan Pass, on the west and east sides of the Pass, respectively. The two lane Going-to-the-Sun Road is quite narrow and winding with hairpin turns, especially west of Logan Pass. The road is generally open from early June to mid October, with its late opening on Jmarking the record for the latest opening since the inaugural date of July 15, 1933. On the east side of the continental divide, there are few guardrails due to heavy snows and the resultant late winter avalanches that have repeatedly destroyed every protective barrier ever constructed. The snowplow crew can clear as little as 500 feet (150 m) of the road per day. The road takes about ten weeks to plow, even with equipment that can move 4000 tons of snow in an hour. Up to 80 feet (24 m) of snow can lie on top of Logan Pass, and more just east of the pass where the deepest snowfield has long been referred to as the Big Drift. The road is one of the most difficult roads in North America to snowplow in the spring. The National Historic Landmark Nomination records a slightly shorter distance of 48.7 miles which is measured from the first main intersection just outside the park's west entrance to Divide Creek in St. The length of the road is approximately 50 miles (80 km) and spans the width of the park between the east and west entrance stations. The road is the first to have been registered in all of the following categories: National Historic Place, National Historic Landmark and Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. Construction began in 1921 and was completed in 1932 with formal dedication in the following summer on July 15, 1933. The Sun Road, as it is sometimes abbreviated in National Park Service documents, is the only road that traverses the park crossing the Continental Divide through Logan Pass at an elevation of 6,646 feet (2,026 m), which is the highest point on the road. Going-to-the-Sun Road is a scenic mountain road in the Rocky Mountains of the western United States, in Glacier National Park in Montana.
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