Since late August, the stretch of McIlhattan Road between Manley Road and Story Mill Road has been fully closed. Anyone driving to Snowfill Recreation Area or Valley View Veterinary Hospital has had to come in from the Manley Road side. The City's street report for the week of October 25, 2026 still expects the closure to end in early to mid-November. Gallatin Valley Land Trust said on October 21 that the road was on track to reopen by mid-November. Neither one has named a day.
Before the closure it was a gravel section that people used to get to a dog park. The City rebuilt it as the shared approach to two regional parks. One is already among the most-used open spaces on the northeast side. The other won't open until fall 2027.
Paved, moved into the hillside, and railed
Nick Ross, Bozeman's director of transportation and engineering, laid out the scope when the closure started. KBZK reported that the plan was to rebuild the gravel section, move it a few feet into the hillside and pave it.
"We're going to be rebuilding the gravel section. We'll actually be moving it a few feet into the hillside. We'll be paving that section of McIlhattan."
The City's project listing includes pavement construction, slope remediation and stormwater management. Ross told KBZK the work also adds new guardrails on the approach to Bikefill.
| Before the closure | After reopening | |
|---|---|---|
| Surface | Gravel section | Paved |
| Alignment | Original roadbed | Shifted a few feet into the hillside |
| Edge | No new guardrails | New guardrails leading to Bikefill |
| Drainage | Existing | Upgraded stormwater management |
| Excavated material | n/a | Reused to build Bikefill trail features |
The last row explains why one project serves both parks. The City says dirt dug out for the McIlhattan work is going into the bike park's trails and features. GVLT says that reuse saves the project money. Some of the hillside cut back to widen the road is now part of the downhill trails next door.
Built for two parks
Ross told KBZK he sees the road as serving more than the neighborhood:
"I consider it more of a regional benefit, to be honest. Both parks are going to be regional attractions that support enhanced quality of life for people in Bozeman, but also our friends in the county and all the way out to Belgrade."
Bikefill is the second of those parks. It's a 66-acre community bike park on vacant City property between Snowfill and the old city landfill. The partners are the City of Bozeman, GVLT and the Dirt Concern, the Bozeman chapter of the Southwest Montana Mountain Bike Association. City material says the parcel itself was never used by the City as a solid-waste landfill. According to the master plan, the City removed its topsoil to cap the landfill next to it. The project broke ground on June 18, 2026, with more than 800 donors behind it. At the ceremony GVLT announced a $750,000 anonymous gift for an Upcycle Kids Zone. GVLT puts the total at $6 million. The City is paying for the McIlhattan improvements and Bikefill's civil infrastructure, and state, county and competitive grants cover more.
At the groundbreaking, GVLT Director of Development Justin Barth described how the two parks relate:
"Snowfill provides a space for dogs to be dogs. Bikefill will provide a place for bikers to be bikers."
Barth also said the bike park should take pressure off multi-use trails like Peets Hill and Highland Glen, where hikers, dog walkers and bird-watchers share the same paths. The planned layout keeps those groups apart too. Dogs get the hillside at Snowfill, bikes get the slope next to it, and the paved road serves both.
What Snowfill looks like this winter
For now, Snowfill is still the destination at the end of McIlhattan. The City lists it as a 38-acre former-landfill open space with more than two miles of gravel trails and over 200 feet of elevation gain. The City's amenity list includes a fenced dog park, a parking lot, picnic tables, year-round restrooms and a sledding hill. GVLT's trail profile warns that the trails can be icy in winter and muddy in fall and spring. The north-facing slope is a popular sledding hill once snow sticks. On Trailforks, Hedvig's Trail is listed as the primary loop at one mile.
Snowfill is off-leash. The City's off-leash park etiquette asks owners to keep dogs leashed until they're inside the park and under voice control after that, and not to leave them unattended. Owners are also asked to pick up after their dogs and keep them from harassing wildlife or digging up plants. Voice control matters more this year, because the slope next door is an active work site. GVLT says Bikefill is a closed construction zone with all public access prohibited until its official opening, estimated for fall 2027.
Work on that slope is moving. GVLT's October update says crews from Integrated Trail Lab and Terraflow Trail Systems are building:
- Green, blue and black one-directional downhill flow trails from the top of the park to a central "Riders' Hub"
- An intermediate singletrack perimeter trail around the full 66 acres
- Trails designed so many of them can take adaptive trail-use devices
Next comes a kid zone at the base of the park, with more green trails, a mini pump track, a skills area and shaded pavilions. After that come a parking lot, bathrooms and other amenities. Those last items will change the most for Snowfill visitors.
A second way into Snowfill, on paper
So far, Snowfill has had one way in. The plans for Bikefill add a second.
GVLT says the planned Bikefill parking lot will give Snowfill a second access point on the southwest side and add parking, without affecting Snowfill's existing access and lots. KBZK reported that the bike park's own lot is planned at more than 100 spaces. The City's March 2026 Bikefill master plan shows how foot traffic would get between the two:
- A 10-foot natural-fines shared-use path along McIlhattan, running from neighborhoods southeast of the park
- A switch to a 10-foot paved trail at the Bikefill parking lot
- A 6-foot natural-fines connector from that lot to Snowfill Dog Park, with wayfinding signs at key intersections
GVLT and the City are also looking for a safe way to connect Bridger Creek Golf Course across Bridger Creek to the existing trails along Story Mill Road. GVLT describes that link as still being worked out. All of these paths are planned and not built yet. The paved road, due back by mid-November, is the first piece of the corridor scheduled to be finished.
Residents helped shape these plans. The City's survey ran from December 4, 2025 to January 20, 2026 and collected 1,016 responses, alongside public workshops in December and January. GVLT says that input led to stronger beginner trails and a bigger family kid zone.
Until the barricades come down
The City's window runs into mid-November, so the detour may still be in place in the first days of November. One Snowfill regular told KBZK about the route she has been taking around the closure:
- Bridger Canyon Road
- Right on Griffin Drive
- Up Manley Road, reaching Snowfill from the other side
When the closure began, she told KBZK, "I hope they pave it while they do it." The City is paving it. Through the closure, Snowfill and Valley View Veterinary Hospital stay open from Manley Road. The City's weekly street report is updated each week and will show the reopening first. For questions about the project, the City lists project manager Kellen Gamradt as the contact.
A paved road, a planned 100-plus-space lot and two parks expected to draw visitors from across the county will change how this part of northeast Bozeman works. At Sunny Odegard, we look at projects like McIlhattan and Bikefill the way an appraiser would, as infrastructure that shapes what nearby property is worth. If you own near Snowfill and want to understand what this corridor means for your home, start with an instant valuation and we'll go through the rest with you.
