Beartooth Highway To Open In Time For Memorial Day Weekend

The Beartooth Highway, the scenic high elevation portion of US-212 linking Red Lodge, Montana, with the communities of Cooke City and Silver Gate, Montana, and the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park, is scheduled to open for the season at 9:00 a.m. this morning, May 23rd. Spring road clearing and maintenance is conducted by the Montana Department of Transportation and the National Park Service.

Inside Yellowstone, the road over Dunraven Pass linking Canyon Village, Tower Fall and Tower Junction also opens for the season this morning.

All other park roads and all park entrances have already opened for the season.

Most seasonal visitor services in the park open in time for the Memorial Day weekend. Saturday also marks the opening of fishing season in the park.

All communities near and on the way to Yellowstone are open all year, offering a wide range of recreation opportunities, activities, and services for visitors to the region.

The National Weather Service forecast for the holiday weekend, calls for partly cloudy skies with a chance of afternoon or evening thunderstorms with high temperatures in the 50s and low 60s, and overnight low temperatures near freezing. Spring visitors to the park are encouraged to have flexible travel plans and to be prepared for a wide range of weather conditions.

There will be no daytime travel delays or overnight road closures due to road construction during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Resuming Tuesday morning, May 27, visitors should expect construction delays of up to 30 minutes, with nightly closures between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. beginning June 1, north of the entrance to the Norris Campground on the road to Mammoth Hot Springs. A 5.4 mile section of the road is being rebuilt, as is the bridge over the Gardner River. This section of road will be closed to all traffic from 11:00 p.m. September 14 to 7:00 a.m. on September 30.

Work will also begin this year to replace the Isa Lake Bridge, which is on the road between Old Faithful and West Thumb Junction. This section of road will close to through travel for the season at 6:00 a.m. on September 2.

Details on both of these projects and updated Yellowstone National Park road information is available 24 hours a day by calling 307-344-2117 or click here.



Jeff
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