Park postpones openings of road, highway path

Grand Teton National Park officials will delay the opening of Moose-Wilson Road and a new multiuse pathway on Highway 26/89/191 due to construction.

The Moose-Wilson Road was scheduled to open May 1, but the opening will be delayed until May 15 to give Silver Star Communications crews time to lay fiber optic cable, park spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs said.

Silver Star and the park are currently awaiting permission to do the work from the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office, Skaggs said.

“We haven’t had approval for Silver Star to start yet,” she said. “We expect that Monday.”

The machinery is already staged, and “Silver Star is ready to go once they get that approval,” Skaggs said.

Once the work is complete, the Park Service will regrade the road and apply magnesium chloride, a chemical that reduces dust and erosion on dirt roads.

The section of pathway along High-way 26/89/191 within Grand Teton National Park will not open until early summer because “work on the Grand Teton pathway segment requires completion of the Moose Junction underpass and final construction of the small bridge over a side channel of the Gros Ventre River,” Park Service officials said in a statement.

Crews also have to stripe the path and erect signs.

The section of the Highway 89 pathway from Jackson along the National Elk Refuge to the Grand Teton National Park boundary will open May 1, and the section of pathway from Moose to Jenny Lake within Grand Teton National Park opens when the pavement is clear of snow.

The Teton Park Road will open to motorized vehicles May 1. The Grassy Lake Road in the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway opens June 1; lingering snowdrifts may limit travel.

Park Service officials advise motorists to drive cautiously and be alert for migrating wildlife. Animals are crossing park roads, especially from dusk to dawn. In addition, springtime repair work may be under way.

April 26, 2012

Continue