| OCR Text |
Show Bryce Canyon Will Remain Open During Reconstruction BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK -Superintendent Craig Axtell announced a two-year road reconstruction project began Monday, Mar. 31. The road project is' Phase II of a major road reconstruction of the first 10 miles of road into the park. The last eight miles of the rim road were reconstructed in 1994-95. Superintendent Axtell's message for all is "the park will remain open during the two-year project. The park and the "Federal Highway Administration are working very closely with the contractor to (See PROJECT on page 4A) Reconstruction Project From Front Page minimize impacts to all park visitors and to park resources." . A Road Project Communications Communica-tions Plan was developed and over the next few weeks, informational infor-mational materials regarding the project will be disseminated to local businesses,' information centers and other local, state and federal entities. The informational informa-tional materials main message is that the park is open and all services will be provided, including the park visitor center, concessions operations, interpretive inter-pretive activities, hiking trails, campgrounds and shuttle service, serv-ice, which will begin service on May 16. The park road was originally built in 1923 for smaller cars and an annual visitation of approximately 20,000 people. Since original construction, the road has only received repairs and minor resurfacing. The road needs reconstruction to provide a safer travel roadway for larger and heavier vehicles, safer bicycle bicy-cle and pedestrian travel on shoulders, as well as accommodate accommo-date an annual visitation of over 1.5 million people. The project is funded with monies appropriated by Congress and administered by ; , -the Federal Highway ; Administration and the National ! ; Park Service. The contract for ; ; the project was awarded to ; ; American Civil Constructors, in ' ; -; coordination with their offices in Littleton, Colorado' and ! ; Draper, Utah. American Civil ; Constructors has been doing ; -; business for almost 30 years. ; -; They have worked on projects in ; -Provo Canyon and St. George,: - - Utah. They have received van-: ; ous awards for construction - safety. Road project employ-; -; -; ment with the contractor is'; being handled through the - ; Department of Work Force ; ; -Services in Panguitch, Utah. -; ; -Bryce Canyon National Park ; ; -and representatives from the ; i ; Federal Highway Administra- ;! ; ! tion say they look forward to ' -; working together with the con- ' ; ; tractor to create a successful ; ; project for the park, its ; resources and our park visitors. '. '. '. -Sup't Axtell said "we sincerely appreciate everyone's cooperation coopera-tion and understanding while completing these necessary improvements." |
