February 21, 2019Kate Cannon, 435-719-2101

Members of the public are invited to an open house to continue discussions on a plan to address vehicular parking and traffic congestion issues at Arches National Park. The meeting will take place during the summer of 2019 at a date and time yet to be determined.

Chip Paterson, principal investigator of Industrial Economics, Inc. (IEc) will outline the findings of an economic analysis of the draft plan. Paterson and park staff will also be available to answer questions.

During the public review period of the Traffic Congestion Management Plan (TCMP) Environmental Assessment, the National Park Service (NPS) received a number of substantive comments, some questioning the impacts on the local economy. The NPS is continuing to collect additional data, perform data analyses, and refine the proposal. Implementation of the proposed reservation system will not occur in 2019. A target implementation date has not been set.

The draft TCMP envisions a reservation system for vehicular entrance to the park during the high visitation season and peak-visitation hours. The TCMP is being developed to address traffic congestion issues that impact visitor access, visitor enjoyment, and resource conditions. A final report of the economic analysis performed by Industrial Economics, Inc. (IEc) is available on the park planning website here:

https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=25&projectID=59437&documentID=93273

For additional information, contact Kate Cannon, Superintendent, Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, at 435-719-2101.