Yellowstone Starts Work on Park's First Major Recovery Act Project

Yellowstone Starts Work on Park's First Major Recovery Act Project
Date: July 1, 2009
Contact: Al Nash, 307-344-2015
Contact: Stacy Vallie, 307-344-2015

Yellowstone National Park
P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 1, 2009 09-047
Al Nash or Stacy Vallie (307) 344-2015

Yellowstone Starts Work On Park’s First Major Recovery Act Project

Work has begun in Yellowstone on the first of several large projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Employees of Century Companies, Inc., of Lewistown, Montana, began work Monday on an 11-mile section of road between the Lewis River Bridge and the park’s South Entrance. Road crews are using heavy equipment to remove and recycle the asphalt and repair the road surface. Total cost of the project is nearly $1.2 million.

Visitors can expect up to 30-minute delays while construction is underway through early July. There will be no road closures associated with this project, and no construction work or delays from 6:00 p.m. Friday, July 3, to 6:00 a.m., Monday, July 6. This same section of road is part of 20 miles of highway which park road crews will chip seal in late July.

Earlier in the year, the park completed a $37,000 project to replace a failing steam line used for heating historic structures at Park Headquarters in Mammoth Hot Springs. Yellowstone National Park is receiving $14,735,000 in Recovery Act funding for 14 separate projects.

These projects are part of a $750 million investment in nearly 800 projects throughout the National Park Service, which was announced in late April by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. The list of all National Park Service projects funded by the Recovery Act is online at http://recovery.doi.gov/press/bureaus/national-park-service/.