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Comment Period On Traffic Plan For Arches National Park Extended

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Published Date

December 4, 2017

Do you want a reservation system to ensure you get to visit Arches National Park?/Kurt Repanshek file photo

You have more time to comment on a traffic management plan for Arches National Park that could, possibly, require you to obtain a reservation during peak seasons to visit the park located in southeastern Utah.

Last month, when the park released its draft plan, the comment window ran through December 4. Now park officials say they'll take comments through December 18.

Arches staff has been working on the Traffic Congestion Management Plan to address vehicle traffic and parking congestion problems that they say affect visitor access, visitor enjoyment, and resource conditions. 

Visitation to Arches National Park doubled in the past 11 years, reaching approximately 1.6 million visitors in 2016. During high-visitation season, March through October, visitors routinely wait in long lines to enter the park and then must search for empty parking spaces at all popular sites. Long lines to enter the park cause congestion at the intersection of U.S. 191 and the park entrance road, which can be a serious traffic hazard. 

The plan under consideration proposes a reservation system for entrance during high-visitation season and peak-visitation hours. This system would give visitors certainty of entry, reduce or eliminate long entrance lines, spread visitation more evenly across the day, and improve the visitor experience by ensuring available parking space, a park release said. 

Reservations would be required for vehicle entry between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., seven days a week during high-visitation season (currently March through October, but this may shift as visitation patterns change), and could be made online or by phone through www.recreation.gov. 

If the TCMP is approved, full implementation would occur no earlier than March 2019. Online reservations would be available six months before the required reservation start date. 

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