Grand Traffic Jam

National Parks

Visitation to Grand Canyon National Park has doubled from two million people in 1984 to 4.7 million people last year. And like many other underfunded and deteriorating national parks, it is ill-prepared for the invasion.

Indeed, gridlock has forced Yosemite National Park rangers to turn away visitors in recent weeks.

Grand Canyon officials estimate the park will have seven million annual visitors by 2010.

“We are under siege,” says park superintendent Robert Arnberger.

The superintendent has proposed a controversial plan to close several major roads on the South Rim and bus in visitors from outside the park.

, DataTimes