Project to rehabilitate Capitol Reef’s Scenic Drive set to begin
Apr 28, 2024, 2:37 PM | Updated: Apr 29, 2024, 11:49 am
An undated photo of Scenic Drive within Capital Reef National Park. Parts of the road will be closed beginning on Monday as a part of a project to improve the road that will take place through most of this year. (National Park Service)
(National Park Service)
TORREY, Wayne County — A section of Capitol Reef National Park’s Scenic Drive is slated to close as park officials begin a large project to rehabilitate and enhance the roadway to address the park’s growing popularity.
Scenic Drive will be closed from Grand Wash Road to Capitol Gorge beginning on Monday as crews begin work to repair the roadway. That said, park officials say visitors can still access Grand Wash Road and the trailhead parking area for Cassidy Arch and Grand Wash for another two weeks.
Officials will close the road south of the park’s fee station — south of the Fruita Campground through to Capitol Gorge — beginning on May 13. Park officials say Pleasant Creek/South Draw Road will not have any through access once this begins.
The closure is expected to remain in place until the project is completed this fall; however, park officials said this doesn’t mean the park is closed this summer.
“The majority of the park will remain open and accessible,” park officials wrote in a statement earlier this month. “Visitors can still access the Fruita area, including the visitor center, orchards, the Gifford House, and trails along state Route 24.”
Read the full story and more from Carter Williams on KSL.com.
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