WHAT WE DO

In September 2004, Ann Mattson, a seasonal interpretive ranger at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, was riding her bike home from park headquarters when a vehicle drifted from the high-traffic park road onto the narrow shoulder and sideswiped her from behind. Mattson was injured and her bike destroyed. The Jackson Hole News and Guide reported that she will "think twice about taking that risk next summer."

As more and more visitors seek to enjoy national parks with bicycles, safety becomes a major issue. Most park roads, like those in Grand Teton, simply aren't designed to be bike- or pedestrian-friendly. Countless close-calls occur each year. In some cases, tragedy strikes as it did in Grand Teton in 1999, when a 13-year-old girl was killed while riding with her parents; a second fatality occurred in Grand Teton in 2001.

The Park Service has embraced a bold and visionary plan that offers safer options for visitors to Grand Teton. Today, thanks to community and congressional supporters like Sen. Craig Thomas (R-WY), working hand-in-hand with dedicated park leadership, Grand Teton is making strong progress toward a transportation plan that offers visitors an additional way to enjoy the park - a safe new system of bike paths.

"The construction of a pathway system will give folks the chance to enjoy the park by walking or riding their bikes, rather than looking out the window of a car or truck. It's time for pathways to move forward and I'm glad we made this first step," Sen. Thomas, chairman of the National Parks Subcommittee, said in a 2004 press release.

Parks for Pedestrians

In 1998, the Park Service developed the Alternative Transportation Program to address the impact of automobile congestion on the experiences of visitors and the natural and cultural treasures parks are intended to protect, and to meet public demand for other ways for getting around congested parks. Clearly, the need is great.

At Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, a four-mile greenway trail, funded entirely by the Grand Canyon National Park Foundation and supported by Arizona's congressional delegation, offers visitors a scenic way to travel between Yavapai Point and Pipe Creek Overlook by bicycle, wheelchair, or on foot. Plans call for a total system of 73 miles of handicapped-accessible bicycle and pedestrian trails in both the South and North Rim areas. Trail construction will begin on the North Rim this summer.

A new five-mile pathway in the Sandy Hook area of Gateway National Recreation Area in New Jersey has enabled visitors to jog, bike, and walk throughout this park. Glenn Craig, a park staff member who often bikes to work along the new pathway, is pleased to see local residents using the pathway. "It's established a whole new group of users. They were always here, but now they have another reason to call Sandy Hook home." The Park Service is currently working with local communities to make the roads and bridges that lead to the pathway even safer and provide better access to the path.

Beyond pedestrian needs, parks also struggle to accommodate car traffic. In fact, two-thirds of all park roads are rated in poor to fair condition. Poorly maintained roads can be more dangerous and harder to travel, which can, in turn, increase traffic congestion and damage park resources. And traffic jams are common in many parks, particularly during the summer.

National Parks or Parking Lots?

Cades Cove, a popular destination inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park, features a single lane, one-way loop road for the area's 2 million annual visitors to view the historic valley. In the summer, driving the congested road can take as long as four hours; in the off-season, the same drive might take 40 minutes.

The traffic jams in Yosemite and the Grand Canyon National Park are also well known. On peak days, an average of 6,000 cars enter the Grand Canyon's main South Rim area, which has only 2,400 parking spaces. The park's shuttle system helps alleviate automobile congestion, but it is aging and most buses are not yet wheelchair-accessible.

Even smaller parks are susceptible. Funding is needed to implement the planned transit system at Little Bighorn National Battlefield in Montana, where visitors on the road are forced to focus on the car immediately in front of them, instead of the history surrounding them. When parking lots are full, eager visitors park on the battlefield itself.

At Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico, parking lots fill quickly during busy summer months, so visitors often park along the steep, windy entrance road - a dangerous proposition.

All Aboard!

Shuttle buses can be a means for addressing some of the aforementioned safety, overcrowding, and resource-protection concerns. The Park Service estimates that nearly one-third of the national parks in more than 30 states use alternative transportation systems, such as shuttles, vans, and ferries, to help address traffic congestion; protect park plants, animals, landscapes, and historic items from inadvertent harm; and reduce air pollution created inside the park.

At Zion National Park in Utah, seasonal shuttle buses operate both inside the park as well as in the neighboring community of Springdale. Since the shuttle began operating in 2000, traffic congestion in the park has dropped, local business has improved, and air and noise pollution have been noticeably reduced.

Of the more than 2 million annual visitors to Acadia National Park in Maine, a majority enjoy the park from late June through Columbus Day. Each summer, these visitors can ride a free, propane-powered, wheelchair-accessible daily shuttle system that serves the park and five nearby towns, including Bar Harbor. A majority of visitors tour Denali National Park via its highly successful bus system, which allows passengers to see grizzly bear, caribou, moose, wolves, and Dall sheep. Year-round shuttle systems also serve Yosemite National Park, easing congestion during the summer and offering visitors a more comfortable way to enjoy popular park sites.

Key Recommendation:
Get Transportation Funding Out of a Pothole

The good news is that there are solutions to traffic congestion in the parks, but in too many parks, funding is lacking.
A 2001 study by the Federal Transit Administration documented that $1.6 billion will be needed between 2002 and 2020 to meet the Park Service's alternative transportation needs such as developing shuttle bus systems.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, for example, are struggling to get a transit system. But because of insufficient funding, the parks known as the "smoggiest" in the country cannot yet offer this alternative form of transportation to park visitors.

The Park Service currently receives $165 million annually from the federal transportation bill for its Park Roads and Parkways Program. This program provides most of the funding to reconstruct park roads and bridges, and fund alternative transportation systems (buses and bike and pedestrian trails). The $165-million funding level, however, is inadequate, as the Park Service has estimated that its road and bridge repair backlog exceeds $3 billion.

Costs vary by park: The projected cost for road resurfacing in Great Smoky Mountains adds up to more than $29 million between 2006 and 2009; alternative transportation options for visitors to Cades Cove are likely to cost more than $20 million between 2004 and 2009. In November 2004, Glacier National Park in Montana received $5 million to repair the popular but perilous Going-to-the-Sun Road, but the estimated cost to complete the ongoing project is more than $150 million. Eighty percent of the park system's shuttles are already more than 12 years old and in need of repair or replacement.

To meet the needs of the parks' nearly 300 million annual visitors, Congress and the administration should reauthorize the stalled transportation legislation, TEA-21. The bill provides increased funding to repair park roads and bridges, and support much-needed transportation alternatives in national parks.

President Bush pledged to work to address road and bridge repair backlogs during his first term, and has appropriately recommended that funding for the Park Roads and Parkways program should average a minimum of $320 million annually over the life of the TEA-21 reauthorization. This funding, if provided by Congress, would be a welcome investment in the backlog of road repair projects in the parks. In addition, the legislation should include dedicated funding for the Alternative Transportation Program-$60 million annually to provide visitors with safe bike paths and trails and to develop and maintain transit systems.

Take Action

• Write to Congress >> Urge your members to co-sponsor the Transit in the Parks Act and pass a transportation bill that increases funding for national parks.

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