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Environmental
Assessment for the Construction of a New Multi-Purpose Trail in
the Entrance Area of Denali National Park Released For Public Comment
The National Park Service (NPS) has released for public comment
an Environmental Assessment (EA) which evaluates the impacts associated
with the construction of a new trail for pedestrians and bicyclists
between the Parks Highway and the new park visitor center area.
The trail would also serve as the utility corridor for a new fiber
optic line connection for in-park computer users. The new multi-purpose
trail would be approximately 1.3 miles long and 10 feet wide and
would meet federal accessibility standards. The new trail would
provide a pedestrian and bicycle pathway that is separate from the
park road, to connect the park entrance with the new visitor center,
which is scheduled to open in 2005. A multi-purpose trail is needed
in this area because the existing park entrance area trail system
(the roadside path) does not connect with the new access trail constructed
last year by the Alaska Department of Transportation (ADOT) from
the businesses in the Nenana Canyon to the park entrance. The existing
roadside path is also too narrow to accommodate bicycle users, forcing
them to use the park road. The fiber optic line would replace and
upgrade the existing copper wire line used for park telephone and
computer connections. The NPS is evaluating a no-action alternative
and three action alternatives for this project. Under the no-action
alternative, the existing trail system in the entrance would be
maintained, with a five-foot wide gravel pedestrian roadside path
mostly following the route of underground power and telephone lines
from the railroad tracks to the entrance of the Riley Creek Campground.
Between the campground and the park entrance there are no maintained
trails. The new multi-purpose trails being constructed as part of
the new visitor center project would end at the railroad tracks.
Under Alternative 2 the roadside path between the tracks and the
Riley Creek Campground would be widened to ten feet to accommodate
multi-purpose pedestrian and bicycle use. The trail would be surfaced
with crushed gravel and compacted to meet standards for accessibility.
The trail would cross to the north side of the road at the Riley
Creek Mercantile and would continue adjacent to the road where it
would connect to the new trail coming from the Nenana Canyon. A
fiber-optic line would be installed by the Matanuska Telephone Association
(MTA) under the proposed trail addition. The fiber optic line would
be installed by spooling it out from a small bulldozer into a ditch
dug by a four-foot long ripper tooth on the back of the machine.
Under Alternative 3 a new Northside multi-purpose trail would be
constructed between the park entrance and the Alaska railroad (AKRR)
tracks. The trail would be ten-feet wide and separated from the
road by a thirty-foot buffer of trees. The route would split below
the Visitor Access Center (VAC), with one path taking a route around
the big parking lot and VAC. The path would be constructed next
to the parking lot access road once it reached the level of the
parking lot. The other path would be constructed between the VAC
and the park road. In order to maintain the proper grade it would
be necessary to route the path going between the VAC and park road
away from the road and then back to it. At a point approximately
250-300 feet east of the tracks, the trail would cross to the south
side of the road and connect with the multi-purpose trail in the
new visitor center area. A fiber-optic line would be installed by
MTA under the proposed trail. Under Alternative 4 a new Southside
multi-purpose trail would be constructed between the park entrance
and the AKRR tracks. The 10-foot wide trail would be constructed
30-50 feet north of the road from the ADOT trail to a point across
from the Mercantile, where it would cross the park road to join
the existing southside
roadside path to the VAC. Across from the VAC a new ten-foot wide
trail would be constructed between 30 and 150 feet south of the
existing southside utility corridor/roadside path up to the railroad
tracks. The roadside trail between the Riley Creek Mercantile entrance
road and the VAC would be maintained as is and retained as a power
line utility corridor. A fiber-optic line would be installed by
MTA under the proposed trail, except that it would follow the disturbed
area north of and adjacent to the road between theMercantile entrance
and the VAC. Printed copies of the EA will be distributed to local
libraries, visitor centers, and those who request printed copies.
The EA will be posted on the new NPS public comment website at:
http://parkplanning.nps.gov It will also be posted on the Denali
National Park and Preserve web site at: http://www.nps.gov/dena/home/planning/home.html
. The EA will be available for public review on April 9, 2004. The
public comment period closes May 9, 2004. If you would like to comment
on the project, please submit your comments in writing to Superintendent,
Denali National Park and Preserve, P.O. Box 9, Denali Park, AK 99755.
Comments may faxed to (907) 683-9612, or may be e-mailed by going
to the new NPS public comment website at: http://parkplanning.nps.gov
. The NPS will make a decision about the Entrance Area Multi-Purpose
Trail project no sooner than 15 days after the close of the public
comment period. If you have any questions about the EA, please call
the Superintendent’s office at (907) 683-9581 or the park’s Compliance
Officer, Steve Carwile at (907) 644-3612.
Privacy & Disclaimer
Author:Jane
Tranel
Last modified on: April, 2004
www.nps.gov/akso
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