This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series will bring you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.
Yellowstone National Park is seeking public input on plans to rebuild the North Entrance Road leading into the park.
A 500-year flood in June 2022 washed away sections of the road between Mammoth Hot Springs and Gardiner, Montana, as well as segments of the Northeast Entrance Road between Tower Junction and Cooke City/Silver Gate, Montana. Both roads are open year-round and serve as the only access for cars into and out of the park during the winter.
Shortly after the flood, the existing gravel Old Gardiner Road (OGR) was improved and reopened to the public in October 2022. But it only has an estimated five to 10-year design life, as it’s partially on top of slow-moving geologic slides and poor soils. It’s also not up to federal standards.
The National Park Service (NPS) is considering four options for rebuilding the road and associated sewer line, called “alternatives,” in its environmental assessment. NPS prefers the second.
- Alternative 1: The No Action alternative would maintain OGR as is and conduct general and emergency maintenance, repairs, and potential re-engineering, as needed. The old North Entrance Road canyon alignment damaged during the 2022 flood would not be reclaimed.
- Alternative 2: The Center Alignment (NPS preferred alternative) would create a new alignment but use some segments of the old North Entrance Road canyon alignment, redesign the OGR as a multi-use trail, and reclaim sections of the old North Entrance Road canyon.
- Alternative 3: The OGR Alignment would re-engineer the OGR to current NPS Park road standards with wider lanes and shoulders, reclaim sections of the old North Entrance Road canyon alignment.
- Alternative 4: The Gardner Canyon Alignment would rebuild the flood-damaged old North Entrance Road canyon alignment and redesign the OGR as a multi-use trail.
The park is taking comments from the public through Feb. 4. Documents and other information about the North Entrance Road Reconstruction Project are available on the NPS’s planning site.
Yellowstone is also hosting public meetings about the three road alternatives, including a video fly-over of the preferred alignment, followed by a question-and-answer session. The same information will be shared in each meeting.
In-person meeting
- Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, from 4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. MST
- Location: Yellowstone Forever Institute Conference Room, 308 Park Street, Gardiner, MT 59030
Virtual meeting
- Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, from 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. MST
- Link to join virtual meeting
- If you plan to join the virtual meeting from your mobile device, we recommend downloading the Microsoft Teams app.
- This meeting will be recorded and posted to North Entrance Road Reconstruction Project and YouTube.
