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Show ie SAYS zi- fiMMELHMD SURE Zion National Park, May 31. During the present visit to Zion National Park of Stephen T. Mather, Director National Nation-al Park Service, he stated that the construction con-struction of the Zion Mt. Carmel Road had ceased to be a probability and was now a certainty, it was announced by E T. Scoyen, Superintendent of the Park, here to day. He also announced that the surveys have been completed by engineers of the U. S. Bureau of Public" Roads, and that construction work would start this summer. In discussing the importance of this project, Mr. Mather said, "In 'returning to Zion National Park after an absence of two years, I was agreeably surprised to note the co-operation the State of Utah has extended in building approach ap-proach roads to the park. It was impossible im-possible for 'me to believe that the modern mod-ern graveled highway between Rock-ville Rock-ville and the park was over the same route of the old winding wagon trail I had used on my last visit, and this is only one small section of the total length which has been improved. "These roads," he continued, "will pay big dividends to Utah in the near future. The construction of the bridge at Lee's Ferry will give a tremendous impetus to auto travel in the entire west, and of course will benefit Utah and Arizona more than any other state." "The building of the Lee's Ferry Bridge in an importance factor to be, considered in planning roads for Zion National Park, It makes the Zion-Mt. Carmel Road not merely a Park road, but a section of a great scenic artorial highway. Over it will come practically all of the North and South traffic which will use the Lee's Ferry Route when it is completed." "The Zion-Mt. Carmel road will combine com-bine the scenic attractions of Zion, Bryce, Cedar Breaks and the Grand Canyon into practically one unit. It will accomplish this by shortening the distance between these points. For instance in-stance it is now 149 miles from Zion to Bryce, but the new road will reduce this to 88 miles." ' Regarding the construction of the I road Mr. Mather said, "All roads in the National parks are being built by the U. S. Bureau of Public Roads, and they will handle this project for us. We are already assured of the same fine cooperation co-operation from the state in this work that has been evident at all times in the past." "The road itself will be a most spectacular piece of work and will require re-quire three years to complete. In order to give some idea of the magnitude of the task, I might mention the fact that of the 24 miles to be built, over a mile, or 6,390 feet, will be in solid rock tunnell. Concluding, he said. "The American public is just starting to discover Zion and the other attractions in this section. sec-tion. There is every indipation that there will be a large increase in travel this season. Travel in the past has represented only a fraction of what can be expected in the future, and our expectations ex-pectations go higher every time a new section of road is completed. |
