The National Park Service, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, is planning to reconstruct a segment of the East Entrance Road from Fishing Bridge to Indian Pond within the eastern portion of Yellowstone National Park. The project would reconstruct the road, associated parking areas and turnouts, and Pelican Creek Bridge. Fishing Bridge will also be considered for rehabilitation or replacement.

This segment of the park’s road system is in an advanced state of deterioration and has seen a substantial increase in vehicle use since the 1980’s. The road also includes areas that do not meet modern engineering safety standards. Pelican Creek Bridge and Fishing Bridge, built in the 1930s, are beyond their design life and are in need of replacement or rehabilitation. Two alternatives currently being considered:

  1. No Action Alternative – Periodic maintenance would be performed to maintain the road and bridges as much as possible. Road, bridges, and parking areas would remain unchanged and would continue to deteriorate.
  1. Build Alternative – Reconstructs the road from the Fishing Bridge area to Indian Pond to a consistent 30 foot width (11 foot travel lanes and four foot shoulders) consistent with the 24 miles already reconstructed. Reconstructs the General Store parking area, repaves the visitor center parking area, and constructs a turn lane within the Fishing Bridge developed area. This alternative also explores four options for the bridges including: no repairs and implement vehicle weight and speed restrictions; heavy rehabilitation; replace the bridge(s) on current alignment; or replace the bridges(s) on a new alignment.

The park is reaching out to the public, asking them to share their comments, concerns, and ideas which will be used to aid in the development of a range of alternatives as part of the preparation of an Environmental Assessment in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).

Public comments must be received by March 15, 2016. Please submit your comments online at the National Park Service Planning, Environment, and Public Comment website: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/FBIP.

If you are unable to submit your comments online through the website, you may submit written comments to: Fishing Bridge to Indian Pond Road Reconstruction; Yellowstone National Park Attn: Compliance Office; P.O. Box 168; Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190. You may also hand deliver written comments to the Albright Visitor Center at Yellowstone National Park.

Leave a comment

WyoFile's goal is to provide readers with information and ideas that foster constructive conversations about the issues and opportunities our communities face. One small piece of how we do that is by offering a space below each story for readers to share perspectives, experiences and insights. For this to work, we need your help.

What we're looking for: 

  • Your real name — first and last. 
  • Direct responses to the article. Tell us how your experience relates to the story.
  • The truth. Share factual information that adds context to the reporting.
  • Thoughtful answers to questions raised by the reporting or other commenters.
  • Tips that could advance our reporting on the topic.
  • No more than three comments per story, including replies. 

What we block from our comments section, when we see it:

  • Pseudonyms. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish, and we expect commenters to do the same by using their real name.
  • Comments that are not directly relevant to the article. 
  • Demonstrably false claims, what-about-isms, references to debunked lines of rhetoric, professional political talking points or links to sites trafficking in misinformation.
  • Personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats.
  • Arguments with other commenters.

Other important things to know: 

  • Appearing in WyoFile’s comments section is a privilege, not a right or entitlement. 
  • We’re a small team and our first priority is reporting. Depending on what’s going on, comments may be moderated 24 to 48 hours from when they’re submitted — or even later. If you comment in the evening or on the weekend, please be patient. We’ll get to it when we’re back in the office.
  • We’re not interested in managing squeaky wheels, and even if we wanted to, we don't have time to address every single commenter’s grievance. 
  • Try as we might, we will make mistakes. We’ll fail to catch aliases, mistakenly allow folks to exceed the comment limit and occasionally miss false statements. If that’s going to upset you, it’s probably best to just stick with our journalism and avoid the comments section.
  • We don’t mediate disputes between commenters. If you have concerns about another commenter, please don’t bring them to us.

The bottom line:

If you repeatedly push the boundaries, make unreasonable demands, get caught lying or generally cause trouble, we will stop approving your comments — maybe forever. Such moderation decisions are not negotiable or subject to explanation. If civil and constructive conversation is not your goal, then our comments section is not for you. 

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *