Yellowstone northern entrance reopened

Northern entrance reopened after historic spring flooding

By: Cody Beers

The North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park reopened Sunday, Oct. 30.

The reopening came more than four months after flooding destroyed roads and bridges inside Yellowstone, as well as closing down the Northeast Entrance west of Cooke City, Montana and threatening three bridges over the Clark’s Fork River on Wyoming Highway 296 in the Crandall area and Wyoming Highway 120 north of Cody.

The $60-plus million effort has involved many state and federal government agencies, as well as contractors HK Contractors LLC of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Oftedal Construction Co., of Casper and Miles City, Montana. These groups and contractors came together and worked around the clock to rebuild roads and reopen US 212 west of Cooke City to Mammoth and Gardiner, Montana, and US 89 from Gardiner, Montana, to Yellowstone National Park and Mammoth inside the borders of Wyoming.

On the morning of June 13, 2022, flooding and rock slides destroyed a main road near Yellowstone National Park’s North Entrance. Gardner, Montana, was impacted heavily, and thousands of visitors inside Yellowstone were evacuated. The same flooding closed US 212 at the Northeast Entrance near Cooke

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte gives a statement to a crowd gathered to celebrate the reopening of critical roadways within Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly and WYDOT Director Luke Reiner stand on a newly-opened section of roadway in YNP that was rebuilt after catastrophic flooding this spring

City, Montana. WYDOT responded, plowing snow and reassuring the Cooke City community that they would have access to the outside world through WYO 296 and Cody, Wyoming.

A big effort by HK Contractors took place inside Yellowstone’s North Entrance where an old road originally built in 1879 was rebuilt to a two-lane paved highway. The new road has steep grades, sharp curves and speed limits between 15 and 25 mph. Inside the Northeast Entrance, Oftedal Construction worked tirelessly to repair sections of highway destroyed during the midJune floods to Tower Junction. The Northeast Entrance reopened in mid-October.

On Saturday, Oct. 29, WYDOT Director Luke Reiner joined Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly, and other federal and state officials, engineers and citizens to celebrate construction of the four miles of road from the North Entrance to Mammoth.

“... This road is going to reopen,” Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said Saturday, Oct. 29, at a Mammoth news conference. “And I want all of America to know that Yellowstone is reopened, and we want you to come back and visit.”

“This was really all hands on deck,” Sholly said. “For this (flooding) to happen in mid-June, going into a busy summer, it’s just catastrophic for some of these local economies. For us to get these roads rebuilt and ready to go, not only for the winter season but going into next year, especially, is absolutely essential and something we couldn’t have done by ourselves.”

“From my perspective, life is really good in this part of the country, because of our partners, because of each of you,” said Reiner from the podium at the entrance of the new four-mile road between Mammoth and Gardiner, Montana. “It brings us, the Wyoming crew, great joy to be part of a winning team, to have had the opportunity to play a small part in this incredible rebuilding effort we are celebrating today. … We could not be prouder to be standing here today, on this magnificent piece of blacktop, in this beautiful part of the world, in our nation’s first national park, with men and women who have demonstrated through their actions what right looks like, with men and women who have demonstrated through their actions, what happens when partners work together for the common good.” n

Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly describes to a crowd the rebuilding process after catastrophic flooding damaged critical roads around the park. The crowd was gathered to celebrate the reopening of the roads damaged in the flood.