Yellowstone Park vehicle traffic nearing capacity

FILE - In this Aug. 3, 2016, file photo, a large bison blocks traffic as tourists take photos of the animals in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Sometime within the next four to six years, Yellowstone is expected to reach its capacity for being able to handle all the vehicles that tourists drive through the park every year to see its sights. The National Park Service says potential solutions that will be discussed include instituting a reservation system or passenger shuttles to control the number of visitors during peak times for the busiest attractions in the park. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File) FILE - In this Aug. 3, 2016, file photo, a large bison blocks traffic as tourists take photos of the animals in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Sometime within the next four to six years, Yellowstone is expected to reach its capacity for being able to handle all the vehicles that tourists drive through the park every year to see its sights. The National Park Service says potential solutions that will be discussed include instituting a reservation system or passenger shuttles to control the number of visitors during peak times for the busiest attractions in the park. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

By Associated Press August 10, 2017 3 min read

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – Sometime within the next four to six years, Yellowstone National Park is expected to reach its capacity for being able to handle all the vehicles that tourists drive through the park to see sights like Old Faithful, wild wolves and grizzly bears and spectacular scenery.

Potential solutions include instituting a reservation system or passenger shuttles to control the number of visitors during peak times for the busiest attractions in the park, but no decisions will be made for at least a couple of years, according to the National Park Service.

“Historic and recent trends demonstrate that visitation will increase over the long-term, therefore, it is imperative for us to plan now,” Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk said in a statement. “Good visitor use management will allow the park to protect resources, encourage access, and improve experiences.”

The agency on Thursday released a pair of studies looking at traffic and parking in the nation’s first national park and visitor demographics and expectations.

Based on conservative estimates of visitor growth to the park, the traffic study said the nation’s first national park should expect to exceed its overall vehicular capacity by 2021-2023.