Kolob Terrace Road Rehabilitation FONSI

Dear Interested Public,

Zion National Park (park), in cooperation with the Central Federal Lands Highway Division of the Federal Highways Administration, will rehabilitate and resurface 9.8 miles of the Kolob Terrace Road (road) within the park. A finding of no significant impact (FONSI) was signed, following a 30-day public review of the environmental assessment (EA) that analyzed the impacts of the rehabilitation and resurfacing project.

The FONSI and the EA constitute the record of the environmental impact analysis and decision-making process for the Kolob Terrace Road. The National Park Service will implement the preferred alternative as described in the EA and FONSI. The preferred alternative includes measures for protection of park resources, benefits to health and safety, improvement of visitor use and experience, and park operations and management. The alternative was selected after careful review of resource and visitor impacts and public comment.

The preferred alternative includes resurfacing, restoration, rehabilitation, and associated improvements needed to address the identified deficiencies along 9.8 miles of the road. Road improvements include increasing the road width to a consistent 22-foot pavement width with no grade change for the south section of the road. Because of the narrow road bench from the base of Maloney Hill through the Black Canyon to the northern end of the project area, the park will maintain a 20-foot pavement width for this section. In addition, a number of site-specific repairs will address subgrade failure, drainage improvements, poor sight distance, and closure or improvement of several informal pullouts. Curve widening and other improvements will occur at the Smith Mesa curve, Maloney Hill switchback, and Wildcat Canyon trailhead switchback. The project will begin as soon as funding becomes available, and construction is expected to take one year.

Document Content:

Kolob Terrace Road Rehabilitation FONSI   (1.4 MB, PDF file) Disclaimer: Links within the above document(s) were valid as of the date published. Note: Some of the files may be in PDF format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You may download a free copy of from Adobe Systems.