Yellowstone Is Building A Heck Of An Impressive Bridge

What’s up with all the construction in Yellowstone?

It's not so hard to understand when you think of how many people, and heavy vehicles, drive through the park every year.

With over 4.5 million visits to the park each year, our park roads and facilities receive a lot of wear and tear.

Nature also likes to lend a hand in tearing down roads. There are always washouts and rockslides, to name a few problems.

The window to do most of the maintenance and improvements happens during a short summer season.

That's just when everyone wants to show up and see the park.

Have a look at the size of that beam. That's impressive.

Currently, one of the largest infrastructure improvement projects happening in the park is the replacement of the Yellowstone River Bridge.

Located on the Northeast Entrance Road near Tower Junction, the original bridge from 1963 will be replaced with a brand-new bridge on a new alignment.

The new bridge will be 1,175 feet long and 162 feet high, stretching over the Yellowstone River below.

They are also expanding the Yellowstone River Picnic Area and overlook parking areas. This huge project, funded by the #GreatAmericanOutdoorsAct, is slated to be finished sometime in 2026!

In the photo below you can see the old bridge and the newer, much higher one, currently under construction.

Mild weather this fall has helped those crews work a little later into the season.

One never knows from year to year when Mother Nature will force work crews to wrap it up for the year.