While the National Park Service may be talking about
minimizing vehicle gridlock at Grand Canyon and Yosemite, Mount
Rushmore in South Dakota is planning a $16 million parking lot to
handle the memorial’s annual 3 million visitors. Superintendent Dan
Wenk proposes charging drivers $4 to $5 to park to help fund the
parking lot. Mount Rushmore Memorial Society, and concessionaire TW
Recreational Services Inc., have already raised over $22 million
towards the construction of a 49,000-square-foot concession
building, employee housing, visitor center, interpretive center,
amphitheater and museum. But the $40 million project has its
critics. Laura Loomis of the National Parks and Conservation
Association says it’s a high-cost, short-term solution to too many
people. “What do you do when you have the same problem in 10 years
and there is no more room to expand? You have to look at
alternative ways to manage people.” Loomis wants the Park Service
to consider solutions it has tried elsewhere, such as staggering
entrance times, adding off-site parking, and shuttle buses, and
telling the public to think twice about visits on peak weekends.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Mount Usher-in-More.
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