National Park Service proposes more cars and tour buses in Denali National Park

The bridge that will allow vehicles to pass over the Pretty Rocks landslide at Denali National Park is seen in early August 2025 as it was being slowly pulled into place. The ongoing thaw-induced landslide, which accelerated and made the road impassable late in the summer of 2021, prompted the bridge project. The bridge project is expected to be completed in 2026. (Photo provided by the National Park Service)

By James Brooks

Alaska Beacon

The Interior Department is taking public comment on a proposal that would allow up to 160 vehicles per day on a restricted section of the Denali Park Road during the peak summer tourist season.

Public comments on the idea are being accepted through July 17, according to a public notice filed Thursday that announced the change.

The current limit, set in 1986, allows 10,512 vehicles from the Saturday before Memorial Day to the second Thursday after Labor Day. That’s roughly 100 vehicles per day. 

Tour buses do not count against the current seasonal limit, but they would count against the new daily limit, reducing the practical effect of the change.

The new limit was proposed in a vehicle management plan finalized in 2012. Under that plan, the 160 vehicle-per-day limit represents the “maximum level” of vehicle use that could be supported while maintaining the park’s quality.  

Last year, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to “review all of the Department’s recreational access rules and take steps to rescind any that unnecessarily restrict recreation in national parks.”

In a news release announcing the proposed Denali Park Road rules, Burgum said, “Denali is one of America’s crown jewels, and Americans should have every reasonable opportunity to experience it. This proposed rule removes outdated restrictions, improves transparency, and ensures access decisions are driven by sound management rather than unnecessary bureaucracy.”

All park visitors can access the first 15 miles of the Denali Park Road, but the stretch beyond the Savage River checkpoint is restricted during the tourist season. Permits apply to that stretch, which continues to Kantishna, a community at the end of the road, 92 miles from its start.

Since 2022, the road has been blocked at Mile 43 by a slow-moving landslide at a location known as Pretty Rocks. A bridge bypassing that landslide is expected to be complete this summer.

Until that bridge reopens, tour buses will travel no farther than Mile 43. Eielson Visitor Center is closed, as is Wonder Lake Campground. 

Trips to Mile 42 will begin May 20; until then, traffic is limited to the Teklanika Rest Area at Mile 30. 

• James Brooks Cascade is a longtime Alaska reporter who lives in Juneau. He previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.