GTNP pathways plan receives nod from park service
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
By Melanie Stein
Jackson Hole, Wyo --Last week, the National Park Service’s
Intermountain Regional Director signed a critical Record of Decision
for Grand Teton National Park’s Transportation Plan.
The ROD authorizes Alternative 3a of the Final Environmental Impact
Statement and allows GTNP to begin moving forward with its multi-year
plan that will enhance transportation in the park.
The ROD authorizes the proposed construction of 22.5 miles of multi-use
pathways outside of existing road corridors, 18.8 miles of multi-use
pathways inside existing road corridors, and a realignment of the
Moose-Wilson Road in two areas for aspen and wetlands restoration.
“Basically what it means is [pathways] that are inside the road
corridor are inside the cut and fill section of the roadbed,” GTMF
Public Affairs Official Jackie Skaggs said. “There will be a separation
of the bike lane and the road itself, but the bike pathway – the
multiuse pathway – will be within the prescribed roadbed.”
Pathways constructed outside the roadbed will be 50 feet or further
from the roadbed, Skaggs said, especially in sagebrush flats and other
areas where there is less topographical constriction.
The new pathways will be built in five different phases, the first of
which will be a pathway from Dornan’s in Moose to South Jenny Lake.
Other segments will be pathways from South to North Jenny Lake, from
North Jenny Lake to Colter Bay, and from Moose to the southern edge of
the park along Hwy. 89, all of which are dependent on continued funding
and wildlife and visitor monitoring. All pathways will be multi-use.
“Multi-use will involve basically what happens along the Teton Park
Road right now when there are no vehicles: rollerblades, bikes, people
with strollers, people who want to walk,” Skaggs said.
Friends of Pathways Executive Director Tim Young said, “I really look
forward to the beginning of the implementation so that visitors can
enjoy the park without always having to choose their vehicle.”
Friends of Pathways has been working with the Town and County to get
funding for construction of a pathway along Hwy. 89 from Jackson to the
southern boundary of the park, where it would connect with GTNP’s
pathway. The pathway would likely be between the highway and the
National Elk Refuge fence.
Skaggs said a business transit study, including a survey of employees
and visitors, will commence this year, asking where people would
want a transit system to go, how often it should run, what it
should cost and how they would use the system.
To read the ROD, go to www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/planning.htm.
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GTNP pathways plan receives nod from park service | Planet JH News Article: General Environment
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