Almost any route you plan to travel in Yellowstone National Park this spring and summer will be affected by a construction project.
At the north gate to the park, there’s a lot going on. You can see the new entrance station being built there. There are three gates now, three lanes where traffic can come through instead of the one that the old structure has. And the road all the way back toward the old arch is being repaved.
The work at the North Entrance is just one of three major road projects in the park this summer. The others include extensive repairs to the overpass on the road leading to Old Faithful. And then there’s the biggest project of all—completely replacing a road which has not seen major improvements in nearly 90 years.
It’s the end of the road for the North Loop. From Tower-Roosevelt all the way to Canyon Village, the road is closed as part of a two-year reconstruction project.
The work will not be finished until May of 2022, which means no access to Mount Washburn, the Tower Fall Campground and General Store, and Tower Falls.
At Old Faithful, the Park Service says you can expect up to 15-minute delays because only one lane of the overpass will be open to traffic. This project is due to be completed this coming fall.
Also due for completion this fall is the work at the north entrance. But in the meantime, it could make for some longer wait times to get in the park as you dodge construction workers and heavy equipment.
The construction work currently leaves just one road as the only way to get from the south part of the park—places like Old Faithful, Lake, Canyon, Norris—to the north side of the park: Mammoth Hot Springs, the Lamar Valley, even Roosevelt Junction. But that’s ok. The road is in very good shape. It’s just come off a years-long reconstruction project to provide more pull-outs, parking areas and new pavement.
You can stay up-to-date on park roads and current conditions here: https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/parkroads.htm
