Kevin Cramer
08/14/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/14/2024 15:17
Senator Cramer Visits Theodore Roosevelt National Park South Loop Construction
Project on Schedule for 2025 Visitors
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MEDORA - For the past five years, a six-mile section of the South Unit Scenic Loop Drive in Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) has been closed as the result of sinkholes and landslides, which eroded the road and made it impassable for residents and visitors. U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) visited the park on Wednesday to see the progress on reconstruction efforts and other improvements.
"What's most impressive to me is the incredible care that went into both the planning and certainly the engineering, which is very impressive, but then the execution of the project that does two things in my view," said Cramer. "It maintains the integrity of the infrastructure, which keeps the traveling public safe and allows this spectacular place to be open to them. More importantly, it maintains the integrity of the natural beauty, which is what the traveling public is here to see. It's great progress and I'm looking forward to it all being done sometime next year."
In addition to repairing the eroded sections of road and improving stormwater drainage, once reopened, the loop will feature expanded walkways, seating, and wayside exhibits, as well as repaved roadside pull-outs. The construction project is slated to be complete by the end of 2024 and the road reopened to visitor traffic by the summer of 2025.
October 2019
August 2024
In October 2019, then-U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt visited TRNP with Cramer to see the infrastructure repair needs and experiences the park has to offer. In 2020, Cramer cosponsored the Great American Outdoors Act(GAOA), a bill President Donald Trump also signed into law, which contained the Restore Our Parks Act, a bill aimed at addressing the maintenance backlog across federal land, including at TRNP. Following the passage of GAOA, Cramer announced the South Loop Drive would be fixed using funding from GAOA. In total, TRNP requested $47 million in federal funding for the repair project.