Public Input on YNP Project Closes Friday

Local businesses only have a few more days to send in their comments on a proposed road construction project that could impact the tourism season in Northwest Wyoming.

Yellowstone National Park has expressed a need to do a massive re-vamping of two bridges on the east entrance highway – a bridge in the Pelican Bay wetlands area, and the iconic Fishing Bridge. The proposed project has several options, three of which would include closing the highway that leads from Yellowstone to Cody. Because of weather considerations in the park, construction would need to take place during the tourist season, and all three of the options propose a full road closure after Labor Day – effectively shutting off one fourth of the tourism income for local businesses.

Dan Wenk, Superintendent for Yellowstone National Park, has indicated that any closure would take place after October 15^th – however, that date is not listed in the published documents.

Tina Hoebelheinrich, director of the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce, urges local residents and businesses to take the time to comment on the proposal before the cutoff date of May 26th. She says that option D would be the most beneficial to the local economy.

Hoebelheinrich says that unique statements, not form letters, are the best way to submit public comments, and to get the Park Service to understand the impact of the project.

To comment, go to the National Park Service’s PEPC page – Planning, Environment and Public Comment – under the project title, “Reconstruct Road from Fishing Bridge to Indian Pond.” The draft environmental assessment can also be found on that page.