Arches National Park Schedules Public Meetings on Traffic Congestion and Crowding

The National Park Service today scheduled meetings to hear from the public as it works to address vehicular congestion and explores ways of providing efficient visitor access to Arches National Park.

From 2009 to 2019, visitation to Arches National Park grew over 66%, from 996,312 to 1,659,702. Visitation is expected to remain high throughout the summer and fall, and continue an upward trend in future years. Overcrowding has required the park's entrance to shut over 120 times this summer as parking lots reach capacity. Long lines to enter the park lead to congestion at the highway intersection, which can be a serious traffic hazard. Separately, access for Emergency Medical Services and road maintenance services are also impacted by high visitation. The NPS is also concerned about the possibility of damage to sensitive resources along trails, such as wildlife, plants and other living things the park was created to protect.

Since 2019, the National Park Service has led several data collection efforts to inform management of congestion and crowding within the park. These public meetings will be an opportunity to share findings from those efforts as well as discuss ongoing studies. Park leadership will also share possible regionally-driven, collaborative approaches to addressing traffic congestion and crowding at the park including a timed-entry pilot program for spring 2022.

"Arches National Park is part of the Moab community, not separate from it. I am committed to working with the community collaboratively to find solutions that promote quality visitor experiences and address congestion in a thoughtful way," said Arches National Park Superintendent Patricia Trap. "We want the local community and our stakeholders to have a seat at the table throughout the planning process - especially should we pilot a reservation system for the park."

The National Park Service invites the public to participate by joining or watching the recordings of the public meeting presentation and by providing their comments. Those interested in commenting may also access a Story Map that provides additional information about the project here: https://arcg.is/18PLT8 ; a link to the comment form is also provided at the end of the Story Map. To comment, click the "Comment Now" button. The comment period is open through October 5, 2021.

Key Questions to consider when commenting:
1) What do you value most about Arches National Park? What experiences do you find most important? What kind of experiences do you want future visitors/generations to have when they come to Arches National Park?
2) What issues interfere most with your desired park experience at Arches?
3) Are there particular strategies you would like the planning team to consider while developing potential solutions for access and visitor experience issues at Arches National Park?
4) What is the park doing well to manage access and visitor experience issues that you would like to see continue?
5) What additional thoughts would you like to share with the planning team about managing access and visitor experience issues?
6) How would you like to be involved in this process moving forward?

For more information, please visit the Arches National Park website at: www.nps.gov/arch.

9/15/2021 UPDATE: The public meetings were held virtually at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/ARCHvisitoruse from 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. MDT on Wednesday September 8, 2021 (recording of the meeting can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVUsBelbGWE ) and from 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. MDT on Friday September 10, 2021 (recording of the meeting can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm4YkFgd1R4 ). The meetings were recorded and can be viewed at the above links.

Document Content:

No files have been uploaded for this document.