Yellowstone National Park will partially reopen on Wednesday at 8 a.m., after catastrophic floods destroyed bridges and roads and displaced thousands of tourists.
The Park Service announced on Saturday that visitors will again be allowed on the park’s southern loop under a temporary number plate system designed to manage the crowds: Those with even number plates and motorcycle groups will be allowed on even number days, and those with odd numbers or void plates on odd number days.
Commercial tours and visitors with proof of overnight bookings at hotels, campsites or in the hinterland will be allowed, regardless of their plate number.
Visitors flocked to Yellowstone during its 150th anniversary celebrations. The southern loop offers access to Old Faithful, the rainbow-colored Grand Prismatic Spring, and the Yellowstone Grand Canyon and its majestic waterfall. It can be accessed from the park’s southern, eastern and western entrances.
“It’s impossible to reopen just one loop in the summer without implementing some sort of visit management system,” Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly said in a news release. “My thanks to our gateway partners and others who have helped us work out an acceptable temporary solution to the South Loop as we continue our efforts to reopen the North Loop.”
The northern loop is expected to remain closed through the summer, if not longer. Officials say it could take years and cost more than $ 1 billion to repair the damage in the environmentally sensitive landscape.
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