Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Suzanne Lewis announced today that the West Entrance Project Environmental Assessment is available for public review and comment for 30 days, until October 07 , 2003. The proposal is to construct a new entrance station and to enlarge the West Yellowstone, Montana, Chamber of Commerce building.

The current entrance, built in the late 1960s, has many structural, geographic, visitor service, office, and health and safety problems. Lanes into the entrance are not tall enough or wide enough for some modern vehicles. The station's proximity to the town of West Yellowstone means that entering vehicles sometimes back up into the town itself, causing unnecessary congestion and frustrating park visitors. The entrance has inadequate visitor contact facilities and lacks adequate office space for its staff. Finally, the current entrance places employees at risk of collision with vehicles and exposes them to unacceptable exhaust fumes.

To rectify the problems, the National Park Service is proposing to reconstruct the West Entrance station. The preferred alternative (Alternative 2) calls for a new entrance 800 feet further inside the park and for an expansion (funded by the National Park Service) of the Visitor Contact Station part of the Chamber of Commerce building in nearby West Yellowstone, Montana. The new entrance would feature an additional traffic lane (which would also be an express/employee lane), four new kiosks, a new administrative building for entrance station staff, and improved ventilation systems for all buildings. The existing canopy would be moved, reassembled, and remodeled on the new site. The Chamber of Commerce expansion would include enlarged visitor service areas, a 50-person auditorium/meeting room, office space for interpretive staff, and additional public restrooms. All new structures would be designed to be as environmentally sustainable and energy efficient as possible, in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council.

The proposed new facilities are part of a continuing National Park Service effort to improve or rehabilitate park infrastructures that provide basic services to the visiting public. Many park facilities have deteriorated from use and age, and are in need of replacement or renovation. Visitation and traffic patterns have greatly increased or changed, respectively, since these facilities were first built. Improvements like those proposed in this environmental assessment will allow for enhanced visitor enjoyment of Yellowstone and protection of its resources.

A copy of the environmental assessment is available from the Yellowstone National Park website at http://www.nps.gov/yell/technical/planning , or by writing:

Planning Office
West Entrance Project
P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190-0168

Comments must be submitted in writing before the end of the October 07, 2003 comment period.