A significant section of a scenic road loop within North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park is set to reopen on Tuesday, after being shut for more than six years.
The move will once again allow visitors unparalleled access to the park’s abundant wildlife and breathtaking panoramic views of the rugged Badlands.
The park’s 21-mile (34-kilometre) loop winds through a stark, dramatic landscape, famously explored by the 26th president during his youth in the 1880s.
This area is characterised by vibrant bluffs, striking erosion formations, and ancient petrified tree stumps, where visitors frequently encounter prairie dogs, bison, and wild horses.
The prolonged closure was necessitated by severe infrastructure damage.
In spring 2019, a 150-foot (45-metre) section of the roadway slumped due to storms, the erosive nature of the landscape, and ageing infrastructure, followed by subsequent sinkholes and other issues, according to the National Park Service.
This meant visitors were forced to turn back, missing iconic vistas such as Scoria Point Overlook, known for its red rock and rolling hills.
Chris Kman, a local souvenir shop owner and park tour guide, expressed the community’s sentiment: “It’s a nice, scenic place. It’s been missed.”
Scoria Point holds personal significance for Kman, being the location of her favourite photograph with her husband, with a popular nature trail nearby. The closure also impacted Badlands Overlook, a spot where, as Kman describes, “the sky goes on forever.”
The road is scheduled to reopen Tuesday, U.S. Sen. John Hoeven said. Construction lasted about two and a half years on a 6-mile (10-kilometer) closed segment, ending in October.
The work encompassed full road reconstruction, drainage improvements, slope reconstruction and grading, and pavement resurfacing, the Park Service said.
“There’s just an incredible amount of engineering that’s gone into it because you’re building this road on the side of these steep bluffs,” said Hoeven, R-N.D.
Visitors will see stone riprap, wire suspension and concrete work holding the road in place and blending into the natural terrain, he said.
The project cost about $51 million, almost entirely funded from the Great American Outdoors Act, which supports national parks’ and public lands’ deferred maintenance needs.
The closed road segment dates to the Great Depression, when the Civilian Conservation Corps developed the area that became the national park. The scenic loop was completed in 1968.
The road project needed more money because of continuing failures of the soil under the road, contract bids higher than budget estimates and erosive storms, the park service said. Long winters and short summers limited construction, and rain and winter weather took a toll as well, the agency said.
Fully opening the loop road means the park will be completely accessible when the nearby Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library holds its grand opening July 4. Organizers expect the library, once opened, will draw hundreds of thousands of people.
“The next thing that they’re going to want to do, if they haven’t already done it, is to go through the park,” library spokesperson Matt Briney said.
More than 700,000 visitors a year see the park, North Dakota’s top tourist attraction.
