Moose-Wilson Road construction begins this spring

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — The National Park Service will begin construction activities addressing infrastructure needs in the southern portion of the Moose-Wilson Road in the park beginning this spring. Public access will be limited to weekends during summer construction activities.

Visitor Impacts in 2022

As part of a multi-year planning process, park staff evaluated options to provide the greatest amount of visitor access with the lowest additional cost and construction duration, while providing for the safety of visitors and crews during construction activities.

• From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the southern portion of the Moose-Wilson Road from Granite Canyon Entrance to the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve will be closed, except on weekends (7pm Friday to 7am Monday) and federal holidays. Parking along the road is prohibited. The southern portion of the road will be closed entirely prior to Memorial Day and after Labor Day.
• The northern section of the road will remain accessible. Access to the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve and Death Canyon Trailhead will be available from the north, from Moose, Wyoming, during construction. The Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve Center opens for summer operations May 29.
• The Granite Canyon Trailhead will be closed to all access. Winter access will be available from December 2022 to March 2023. Access to the Granite Canyon trail system, including the Valley Trail, will be available throughout construction from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Grand Teton is working in partnership with the Resort and Teton Village Association to provide information about accessing the southeastern part of the park during construction activities.

Upcoming Public Meeting

Grand Teton will host a virtual public information meeting about the Moose-Wilson Road construction project and visitor impacts during construction. The meeting will be held virtually on April 14, 5:30–6:30pm.

Improvements

The completed project will provide for a better driving, parking, and hiking experience for visitors. All work will preserve the rustic character of the corridor and provide high-quality visitor opportunities including wildlife and scenery viewing. Work will be completed in phases, with the first phase implemented in 2022-23, the second phase in 2024-25, and additional phases designed and implemented in the future.

• Phase 1 work will include paving the 1.4-mile rough, unpaved section of the road, improvements with the Granite Canyon Entrance including an additional entrance lane to ease backups, improvements at the Granite Canyon Trailhead, including two vault toilets, bench seating, additional parking, improved traffic flow, and decreased roadside parking, improvements with the Poker Flats horse trailer parking area, Kaufmann Creek bridge construction, improved pullouts for vehicles along the road, and new visitor information signage.
• The majority of the funding for Phase 1 work is provided by the Great American Outdoors Act, the single largest investment in public lands in U.S. history. The landmark legislation established a new National Parks and Public Lands Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) to address the maintenance backlog on public lands.
• Phase 2 is anticipated to begin in 2024 and includes repair to the Death Canyon access road, improvements of the Death Canyon trailhead parking, repair of the Death Canyon Junction trailhead parking area, re-alignment of the north section of the roadway, improvements to the new intersection, and final landscape/reclamation efforts of the former roadway.

The park considered other construction projects in the area when planning work on the Moose-Wilson Road. The park will continue coordination with Wyoming Department of Transportation, Teton County, and Jackson Hole Airport to minimize overall visitor impacts.

The project is part of the Moose-Wilson Corridor Comprehensive Management Plan finalized in 2016 after an extensive three-year public engagement process and environmental impact analysis.

The Federal Highways Administration is overseeing the project in partnership with the National Park Service.

The National Park Service reminds visitors to plan ahead especially during the busy summer months. In addition to construction projects this summer in Jackson Hole, there will be three major road improvement projects in Yellowstone National Park in 2022: Lewis River Bridge, Old Faithful to West Thumb, and Yellowstone River Bridge. All three projects will cause major delays. Two of these projects will have overnight closures for certain periods of time.