|
A plan to reroute a highway in Yellowstone would have visitors taking the high road By MICHAEL MILSTEIN Gazette Wyoming Bureau YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - A proposal to reconstruct one of the most heavily used and seriously deteriorating lengths of road in Yellowstone National Park would move about two miles of road outside of the Gibbon River Canyon, where it is subject to erosion and mudslides that have worsened since forest fires in 1988. In 1989 and again in 1997, mudslides there pushed cars into the Gibbon River. The realignment would be part of the proposed reconstruction of 10 miles of road from Madison Junction to the Gibbon Meadows Picnic Area, about 3.2 miles south of Norris Junction. The entire project would cost an estimated $22 million to $25 million and would be completed in three phases beginning this year and continuing into 2004. It would widen the road from its current 22- to 24-foot width to 30 feet wide. Money for the project would come from a $280-million road repair package included in a transportation bill recently passed by Congress.
An environmental assessment of the project's impacts is now open for public comment. The stretch of highway is one of the busiest sections of Yellowstone's Grand Loop Road and during 1993 carried an average 2,785 vehicles per day. Traffic on the road peaked in mid-summer at 5,333 vehicles per day. First built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1905 and maintained on a patchwork basis ever since, the road includes Tanker Curve, which records more accidents than any other place in the park and is so named because a tanker truck once crashed there. Most of the road would be rebuilt along its current route, but the two-mile stretch from Gibbon Falls to Tanker Curve would be moved up onto the rim of the Gibbon River Canyon. The section of road proposed for realignment now runs through the canyon immediately next to the Gibbon River, which continually eats away at the soil that forms the foundation of the road. Mudslides descending from unstable soils on the side of the Gibbon River Canyon have also swamped the road and the risk of slides has increased since the forest fires that swept through Yellowstone in 1988 burned away vegetation that had helped to hold the soil in place. Park crews have regularly hauled away such debris, according to the environmental assessment, but some of the eroded material occasionally washes into the river. "We really would like to stop these erosion problems we've been having," said Tim Hudson, Yellowstone's maintenance chief. A new bridge would be installed just north of Gibbon Falls to carry vehicles from the west to the east side of the Gibbon River and would rejoin the current road alignment after about two miles, just beyond Tanker Curve. The abandoned section of road and the concrete bridge that currently crosses the river just before Tanker Curve would be removed and the area reclaimed. Fill and riprap that now buttresses the road against river-caused erosion would also be removed, returning the river and canyon to its more natural state, the environmental assessment says. Cracks and potholes riddle the entire segment of road proposed for reconstruction and attract many visitor complaints, park officials said. Poor drainage, clogged ditches and culverts and a poor road base "contributes to excessive flexing and damage to the pavement surface, and in combination with the traffic, results in rutting and broken pavement," the environmental assessment says. The road currently runs over or near hot springs and in those areas engineers would employ a special road design to keep heat and moisture from damaging the road. Park officials considered other alternatives besides the proposed reconstruction, including doing nothing and rebuilding the road along its current, but keeping it only 24 feet wide. Officials determined that the other alternatives would reduce the project's cost, but would not address maintenance and safety concerns as well as the project they have proposed as their preferred alternative. Comments on the proposed project and environmental assessment should be sent to Superintendent, Attn: Planning and Compliance, Madison to Norris Road Improvement, P.O. Bo 168, Yellowstone National Park, Wyo., 82190.
|
