Yellowstone Among Three Parks Receiving Over $120 Million in Grants

The National Park Service announced, Thursday, that three national parks, including Yellowstone National Park, will receive more than $120 million in grant money to modernize transportation infrastructure.

The work in Yellowstone will be near the north entrance, where several miles of road will be reconstructed and upgraded.

Florida's Everglades National Park and Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi and Alabama are the other recipients of the grant money.

“These grants will help modernize our aging transportation infrastructure, address a significant amount of our maintenance backlog, and improve overall visitor experience and access to our national parks,” National Park Service Deputy Director P. Daniel Smith said. “Our more than 5,500 miles of paved roads bring in more than 300 million visitors annually, and it is a top priority to maintain and improve them.”

This news comes as park officials report that Yellowstone hosted 434,385 visits in May 2019, the third busiest on record.

In 2019, the park has hosted nearly 580,000 visits, up 1 percent from the same period last year. officials also say that year-to-date visitation in 2019 is 11 percent higher than five years ago in 2015.

Information provided by the National Park Service