Distinctly Montana Magazine

73 w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m by HOLLY MATKIN • photos by GREG HARBAC BUILDING MONTANA'S HIGHWAY FATALITY MARKER PROGRAM Given the fatality markers' proximity to primary thorough- fares and the similarities they share with traditional highway signs and reflective delineators, many people mistakenly be- lieve the state's Highway Fatality Marker Program (HFMP) falls within the purview of the Montana Department of Transporta- tion (MDT). And while MDT has played a significant role in rais- ing awareness about the project, it isn't state workers who are out pounding posts and affixing crosses at crash sites. The concept of the HFMP was concocted back in 1952 by Floyd Eaheart, a member of Montana American Legion Hellgate Post #27, after six people were killed in motor vehicle crashes over the Labor Day Holiday that year. Eaheart's unique idea was approved in 1953 by then-governor J. Hugo Aronson and the highway commission that later evolved into the MDT. It quickly blossomed from a county project to a statewide undertaking—a massive accomplishment for a state that stretches roughly 560 miles east to west and about 320 miles north to south. The program had been in operation for 54 years in 2007, when then-MDT Director Jim Lynch signed off on the construction and installation of signs announcing the marker program at each of the 15 highway entrances coming into the Treasure State. "WHITE MARKERS REPRESENT HIGHWAY FATALITIES," read the bold, blue signs, which stand five feet tall and thirteen feet wide. "MAINTAINED BY THE AMERICAN LEGION OF MONTANA." A notation about the Montana American Legion's fatality mark- er program was included on the state's official highway map for the first time that same year, raising further awareness of the veterans' project and their involvement behind its continued success. BOOTS ON THE GROUND Pinpointing the exact number of markers that have been in- stalled over the past 71 years as part of the ongoing HFMP is a difficult task, if not downright impossible. "There are well over 2,500," says Long, who is also a retired U.S. Marine and Montana Army National Guard veteran and served a tour in Iraq. He has been at the helm of the Montana US 287 between Norris and Ennis. Members of American Legion Post #14, Bozeman, the Madison County Sheriff's Department, and American Legion Post #65 stand behind an American Legion Fatality marker.

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