Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Suzanne Lewis announced today that Intermountain Regional Director Steve Martin signed and approved the Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) Decision Notice for the West Entrance Project Environmental Assessment (EA) on March 19, 2004.

The National Park Service plans to reconstruct the West Entrance station as outlined in the EA preferred alternative. It will construct a new entrance 800 feet further inside the park and expand the visitor contact portion of the Chamber of Commerce building in nearby West Yellowstone, Montana. The new entrance will feature an additional traffic lane (which would also be an express/employee lane), four new kiosks, a new administrative building for entrance station staff, and improved ventilation systems for all buildings. The existing canopy will be moved, reassembled, and remodeled on the new site. The Chamber of Commerce expansion will include enlarged visitor service areas, a 50-person auditorium/ meeting room, office space for NPS interpretive staff, and additional public restrooms. All new structures will be designed to be as environmentally sustainable and energy efficient as possible, in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council.

This two-phase project will solve the numerous problems that currently exist in the West Entrance area. Traffic lanes will be taller and wider, entrance staff will have a healthier and safer working environment, and the additional distance between the town and the gate will remedy some of the congestion and safety problems for visitors approaching the current entrance. Enlarging the Contact Station will more adequately address the needs of the many visitors entering there. Construction may begin as early as late 2004.

The project was on public review for a 30-day period that ended on October 07, 2003. Thirteen written responses were received. Copies of the FONSI/Decision Notice and a summary of comments received during public review of the project and the National Park Service response to those comments will be sent to everyone that commented. The EA and FONSI are posted on the Internet at www.nps.gov/yell/technical/planning and are also available upon written request to:

Planning Office
West Entrance FONSI
P. O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 82190-0168

Information provided by the NPS