A big project at Yellowstone National Park reached an important milestone this week with the opening of the new Yellowstone River Bridge, which connects the popular Lamar Valley with the rest of the park. The announcement came this week via Yellowstone’s Facebook page.
The post notes that with the opening of the new bridge, the project will now move into its final phase, with crews continuing to work on overlooks, remove the old bridge, and restore the Lost Creek drainage. Work on the project is expected to be completed in 2026.
The project began in 2023, when Yellowstone was awarded an approximately $118 million construction contract to replace the previous, structurally deficient Yellowstone River Bridge through the Great American Outdoors Act. The bridge is part of the only road corridor in the park that is open year-round and plowed in the winter.
"As a vital piece of the only road corridor in the park that is plowed for winter use, the Yellowstone River Bridge provides visitors and communities with all-season opportunities to enjoy the beauty of the world's first national park," said then-National Park Service director Chuck Sams at the time the contract was awarded. "We are grateful for the bipartisan GAOA support that is providing funding necessary to complete large-scale infrastructure upgrades in national parks to improve safety and the visitor experience."
A Federal Highway Administration memo noted that the 1,285-foot-long, 175-foot-high steel bridge would require sulfate resistant cement and thermal monitoring due to its location within a hydrothermally and geothermally active zone.
In addition to the new bridge, funding allowed for new pullouts, paved parking areas, and a dedicated pedestrian route across the new bridge. It also helped enlarge the popular Yellowstone River Picnic Area to accommodate increased visitor use. According to Yellowstone superintendent Cam Sholly, the project was one of the park’s highest deferred maintenance priorities for years.
Now that the new bridge is open to visitors, the old bridge will be removed and the area rehabilitated.
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