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Arches National Park in Utah recently announced that rangers are looking for comments on a proposed plan to deal with congestion. For over a decade, the National Park Service (NPS) has struggled to keep the park from becoming a gridlocked traffic mess as outdoor recreation has become more popular while the parks generally don’t grow to accommodate more visitors. You can find the full text of the draft plan and submit your comments here.
In this article, I want to briefly summarize what the agency plans to do about traffic at the popular destination and discuss something that the park could do to address the problem using clean technology. If you agree with my proposal, be sure to share it with them!
What NPS Is Hoping To Do
In recent years, park rangers have tried a variety of things to stop the park from becoming so crowded that nobody can enjoy it. They’ve tried closing the front gate when the park started getting full, only letting people in when someone left to set a limit on vehicles in the park. They’ve also instituted reservation systems where people could go online and reserve a “timed entry” window during busy hours. This helped people to just not come until there was a good time for them to come.
Amid complaints about needing to reserve a time and day for arrival, the park has been considering a number of alternatives. Things like widening the roads, putting in bigger parking lots, and adding more park gates didn’t look good because they’d ruin the nature of the park, disrupt the environment, cost heaps of money the agency doesn’t have, and (as cities have found) result in even more pent-up demand that ends up swamping the park anyway.
This sure sounds like a common urban problem, so you shouldn’t be surprised to hear that the agency considered shuttle buses, either mandatory or on a voluntary basis. But the agency found that the shuttles would end up leaving people stranded in the heat waiting for the next bus in the desert while the number of people who could spend time on the trails can’t expand just because you’re bringing them there on buses.
Ultimately, the agency is now seriously considering two main choices: continue the “timed entry” program, or change to a system where visitors reserve a day to enter (which would give more flexibility). Either system would be modified to let in a specific number of cars per hour or per day to keep trails and parking lots below capacity and un-crowded, while non-peak hours would be open to anyone visiting without a reservation.
What’s Keeping Bikes From Being A Reasonable Alternative
With park-operated transit not being a great option, and cars proving to be an impediment to the growth of visitors to the park, the NPS needs to consider another alternative: micromobility. If people could enter the park on smaller vehicles, far more people would be able to enjoy the sights and check out the trails without needing to spend the big bucks on building infrastructure for cars. It would also give people a much better outdoor experience that isn’t just a scenic drive.
But, there’s one big problem today with riding bikes in Arches National Park: the roads.
Nearly all of the roads in Arches are like the picture above. Two lanes, lots of curves, no shoulder, no bike lane, and no place to get out of the way of the cars. Sure, cyclists (not riders, but cyclists in the strict sense) wearing spandex and fully aware that they legally have the right to go 10–15 MPH on the road can and often do ride around at Arches. I’m not saying they’re in the wrong to do so, or even that it’s particularly dangerous, but the average person renting an e-bike in nearby Moab won’t want to ride like this.
Instead of listening to the cycling enthusiasts, who would ride on any road no matter the risks and no matter how many people are flying them the bird, we need to acknowledge that you’re not going to get a significant number of visitors to show up on two wheels without protected bike lanes (with a real barrier, not a stripe of paint) or separate bike paths that go around the park independently of the roads. This doesn’t need to be expensive or even particularly impactful—even a simple gravel path that follows the contours of the land would suffice!
Another option would be to work with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to put in some gravel parking lots near US-191 along some of the dirt roads that enter the park. With some very minor improvements, these dirt roads into the park would be fantastic for e-bikes to enter.
A parking lot wouldn’t be needed, nor would the agency need to set up space for vendors to rent them out. There’s already a very nice paved trail from nearby Moab, and having e-bike trails in the park would result in a boom of e-bike rental businesses encouraging people to rent a bike and 2–3 batteries for a day tour of the park. These vendors would only need to be given passes to come and assist renters with bike problems and bring extra batteries.
On top of a path, about all that would be needed are some water stations, some shaded rest stops periodically, and some secure spots to lock bikes up at pedestrian trailheads. An additional ranger or two would be needed to patrol the paths, look out for unsafe riding, and assist people having bike problems in areas with inadequate cellular coverage.
Like This Idea? Be Sure To Share It With NPS!
If you like my idea, don’t just share it on social media or tell us about it in the comments. Be sure to share it with the National Park Service and add any other idea you have to make it even better. The agency is seeking comments until November 23rd, and you can submit them here!
Featured image: Double Arch in the snow. Photo by Jennifer Sensiba.
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