The Yellowstone National Park’s South Loop reopened Wednesday in limited capacity, just over a week after flooding and historic rainfall closed all of the park’s entrances.
The South Loop, which is accessed via the East, West, and South entrances to the park, can now be accessed by visitors. It uses an alternating license plate system with some exceptions.
According to the service, vehicles with plates ending in odd numbers will be allowed to enter the park on odd-days of the month. However, even numbers (including zero) will not be permitted to enter the park on even-days of the month.
According to the park service, this is in place to slow down visitors’ traffic. Officials from the park service said that although there were some backups Wednesday morning, they cleared each entrance within several hours.
According to the park service, Wednesday’s traffic count was less than 5,000 compared with the 10,000+ vehicles that usually enter the loop.
Cam Sholly, the park superintendent, stated that while it is too early to know if the license plates system was successful, it appeared to have done its work by reducing our normal traffic counts by half. “We are happy to welcome visitors back to Yellowstone, and we appreciate the patience of the community partners and the public as we work through this difficult situation.”
The park’s northern loop, which can be accessed via the Northeast and North entrances, is still closed.
Officials said that the park, which includes parts of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, was inundated by unprecedented rainfall, flooding, and other dangerous conditions. Officials reported that roads had been washed away in some places and that others were affected by the floods.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), flooding along the Yellowstone River due to heavy rain and rapid snowmelt was a 1:500-year event.
Wyoming Governor. Mark Gordon tweeted Wednesday. “This is good news for Wyoming tourism and our communities near Wyoming.”
According to the park, the park’s north loop will also reopen in the next two weeks after cleanup, repairs, and inspection efforts have been completed.
