Commute, challenges, and captures working construction in Big Sky, Montana
June 5th 2024
Big Sky, Montana “The Biggest Skiing in America” having over 5,850 skiable acres coupled with some gosh darn big homes. A builder invited Block Biome to visit a his job sites, this article covers the experience from a builders standpoint discussing what the commutes like, 191 traffic counts, Big Sky Growth, and a construction gallery.
Getting to Big Sky and historical traffic patterns
There’s only one way in and one way out (technically 2 however the second is semi private). Some of the locals that commute this every day may challenge these drive times however this is what we pulled from Google as of June 5th 2024. Note – there is one construction zone south of Four Corners at the time of this estimate, one could shave 10 minutes off assuming no slow downs (which is not unique to Highway 191, thank you to all the service workers who keeps up with this stretch, and mad respect to everyone who commutes this daily throughout the year.
Highway 191 Traffic Counts
A vast majority of the traffic coming to Big Sky circles out within the same day either visiting for a ski day or commuting as a contractor. Block Biome did a traffic study morning of Wednesday April 10th to better grasp who travels to and from Big Sky. This data is available for sale however, we’re happy to share a chart displaying morning traffic counts.
After looking at morning patterns, let’s take a step back at the Montana Department of Transportation’s Traffic Count data for location A-043 just North of Big Sky Canyon Village located on Highway 191. Looking strikingly similar to the S&P 500.
Big Sky Population Growth
What’s the significance in these traffic counts? First, it’s fun to compare drive counts to population figures and second is the fact that Big Sky is continuing to grow. According to the 2021 Big Sky Community Report, Gallatin had a +32.9% population change from 2010 to 2020 while Big Sky grew 89% over that same period. You think that’s a sharp growth curve.. Think again, between 2000–2010 Big Sky grew 89% and from 1990 to 2000 it experienced a growth of 800%.
Construction
Enough with the counts, let’s talk building. Construction and new builds around Big Sky has exploded since 2020, everything from new hotels, condos, modular apartments, to new homes. Robert, who has been a superintendent in Big Sky and around Gallatin Valley for over 20 years invited me to shadow for the day.
The top challenges builders face here are:
- Weather
- Having enough people
- Managing expectations
- Terrain
- Proximity to materials
We visited 3 different job sites taking a few photos in between, please enjoy the captures below divided into interior/exterior under construction, completed homes, craftsmanship, vehicles, and neighborhood.
Interior under construction
Exterior under construction
Completed Homes
Craftsmanship
Vehicles
Neighborhood
Thank you for reading,
Daniel Zavadil – Block Biome Operator and Author of the Bozeman Build Report