After being closed for more than six years, a vital section of the scenic loop road within North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt National Park has finally reopened to the public. This restoration grants visitors renewed access to the park's legendary wildlife and the breathtaking panoramic views of its rugged Badlands terrain.
A Landscape Restored: The Road to Recovery
The closure was forced in the spring of 2019 when a 150-foot (45-metre) section of the roadway collapsed. The National Park Service attributed the failure to a combination of severe storms, the inherently erosive landscape, and the road's ageing infrastructure. Subsequent issues, including sinkholes, made the route impassable, cutting off access to iconic viewpoints like the Scoria Point Overlook and the seemingly endless skies of Badlands Overlook.
The extensive repair project, which lasted approximately two and a half years and concluded in October, involved a complete overhaul of the damaged segment. Work included full road reconstruction, drainage improvements, slope reconstruction, grading, and pavement resurfacing. US Senator John Hoeven highlighted the significant engineering challenge, noting, "There's just an incredible amount of engineering that's gone into it because you're building this road on the side of these steep bluffs."
Community and Economic Impact
For the local community, the reopening is a momentous occasion. Chris Kman, a local souvenir shop owner and park tour guide, expressed the collective sentiment, stating, "It's a nice, scenic place. It's been missed." Kman shared the personal significance of Scoria Point, the location of her favourite photograph with her husband. The prolonged closure had a tangible impact on local businesses and the visitor experience.
The project cost approximately $51 million, with the vast majority of the funding sourced from the Great American Outdoors Act, a federal initiative designed to address deferred maintenance needs in national parks and on public lands.
A New Chapter for a Historic Park
The reopening of the full 21-mile (34-kilometre) loop is particularly timely. It ensures the park will be completely accessible for the grand opening of the nearby Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library on July 4. Library organisers anticipate the facility will draw hundreds of thousands of visitors, many of whom will then want to explore the park. Matt Briney, a library spokesperson, confirmed this, saying, "The next thing that they're going to want to do, if they haven't already done it, is to go through the park."
The park, which attracts more than 700,000 visitors annually and is North Dakota's top tourist attraction, winds through a stark landscape once explored by the 26th president in the 1880s. Visitors can once again fully experience its colourful bluffs, dramatic erosion formations, ancient petrified tree stumps, and frequent wildlife sightings of bison, prairie dogs, and wild horses.
