What’s in a name?

Dam and Upper Low Dog roads renamed Big Sky Resort Road

By Emily Stifler Explorebigsky.com Managing Editor

BIG SKY – The roads at the Big Sky Mountain Village have long had confusing and misleading names, with dispatcher maps mismatched to shipping addresses and street numbers. But that’s all about to change, and it’ll be a boon to public safety.

Madison County on Sept. 11 approved renaming Dam Road and Upper Low Dog Road, and by this winter they’ll be known as Big Sky Resort Road.

When Big Sky Spur Road this summer became Lone Mountain Trail in the official Gallatin County record book, it freed up the name ‘Big Sky’ for use elsewhere in town. Madison and Gallatin counties wouldn’t allow it previously, because having similar names would have been confusing for 911 dispatch purposes.

Perhaps the most important benefit from the name change comes in the form of emergency services.

“We have problems responding in that area now because addresses don’t match the roads,” said Big Sky Fire Chief William Farhat. “We hope this will make it easier to respond to emergencies and for those who live up there, make it more like normal addressing system. It’s going to be great for us, a great help to public safety.”

Previously the resort’s address was 1 Lone Mountain Trail – an address that didn’t actually exist on the record books.

“If you were to ask any UPS driver where 1 Lone Mountain Trial was, they knew, but it wasn’t official,” said Big Sky Resort Brand Manager Glennis Indreland.

Giving guests directions to the mountain was confusing, Indreland said, “and you can imagine how it sounds to say, ‘Turn on the Dam Road’.”

Upper Low Dog Road, which really had no official name, was also misleading, especially since it was near the residential street, Low Dog Road.

Parties involved in the name change include Madison County Planning Department, Madison County GIS, Gallatin County GIS, Big Sky Fire, Boyne, the Big Sky Owners Association, and Madison County Commissioner Jim Hart.

The commercial structures in the Mountain Mall, the Yellowstone Conference Center, the Huntley Lodge, the Summit Hotel and the Shoshone Condos are the primary buildings affected by the name change. Residences on Low Dog Road will be unaffected, but will have new street numbers assigned so they match what Gallatin County has its 911 dispatch book.