Zion will impose a large vehicle restriction this summer. Here’s what it means for one of the park’s crowded roads.

St. George • On an average day in Zion National Park, a backlog of cars snake up a windy road that connects the park’s east and southwest sides.

Large tour buses and some RVs can’t fit in one lane on the old, narrow and steep Zion-Mount Carmel Highway, disrupting the flow of traffic and creating safety issues.

That will change this summer, though. Starting on June 7, Zion National Park will no longer allow large vehicles to drive the 10.7-mile Zion-Mount Carmel Highway between Canyon Junction and the park’s east entrance.

Restrictions will apply to vehicles longer than 35 feet, 9 inches, wider than 7 feet, 10 inches, taller than 11 feet, 4 inches and heavier than 50,000 pounds, according to the park. Combined vehicles, such as trucks pulling trailers, can’t exceed 50 feet overall; trailers can’t exceed 26 feet in length from the hitch to the rear axle.

“We’re doing this first and foremost for safety,” Matthew Fink, public affairs specialist for the park, said during a press conference on Monday. “Vehicles that exceed these dimensions cannot safely transit the highway.”

The park has videos of tour buses crossing the lane line as they navigate sharp turns up the switchbacks, Fink added.

The park also is implementing the new policy to protect the cultural heritage of the park. “This highway is a cultural resource,” Fink said. “It is a part of America’s history. It is on the list of the National Register of Historic Places. It’s a historic civil engineering landmark, and it was built to blend in with the scenery.”

A long time coming

The Zion-Mount Carmel Highway was built in 1930, a time before large buses and trailers.

“Many of today’s large touring vehicles and RVs simply couldn’t have been envisioned when the road was built,” Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh said in a news release on Monday. “This decision comes after years of careful study and collaboration with our neighbors, transportation agencies, and the tourism industry.”

Zion National Park has been assessing traffic issues on the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway for decades.

Two safety studies conducted in 1989 and 2019 found that vehicles larger than the new size restrictions can’t pass through the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel or navigate the windy switchbacks on the highway in just one lane. They also found that some vehicles exceed the safe weight limit on four bridges along the highway.

After the 1989 study, park rangers began posting out at the entrances to the tunnel, converting traffic from two lanes to one when a large vehicle approaches.

This has created backups and affected the visitor experience. A 2016 study found that during an average hour at the park, there is free-flowing traffic for only 19 minutes, according to the park. On the park’s busiest days, cars move freely for only eight minutes of every hour.

Since 2016, the number of large vehicles in the park has stayed fairly steady but visitation has increased, Lisa White, transportation manager for the park, said during a news briefing on Monday.

“The more people that we have, the more vehicles on that roadway, the bigger issue it is to have large vehicles sharing it with all of our other visitors,” she said.

Affected communities

In preparation for the new policy, the park has consulted with a variety of groups, including surrounding communities, Utah’s Office of Tourism, tour bus operators and the Utah Farm Bureau Association, Fink and White said during the press conference on Monday.

“Most of the local community is like, hallelujah, it’s about time,” White said.

Barbara Bruno, mayor of Springdale, supports the new restriction and doesn’t think it will negatively affect the economy of her town that sits next to the busy southwest entrance of the park.

Springdale may see more large vehicles than it can accommodate, though, as the new policy prohibits large vehicles from entering the east entrance.

To prepare for that, Bruno has been working alongside Washington County, the town of Virgin, and private partners to develop a new park and ride system in Virgin.

On the east side of the park, Kane County officials worry the new policy could turn away tourists, a major contributor to the local economy, County Commissioner Celeste Meyeres said.

“It would not have been our preferred outcome ... so we are doing absolutely everything that we can to prepare,” Meyeres told The Tribune.

Kane County obtained funding from state and federal sources to improve the Coral Pink Sand Dunes Road, which may get more traffic as large vehicles take alternative routes around the park, Meyeres said.

The county has also been working alongside Washington County, the state and organizations like Zion Forever Project to create a new shuttle system on the park’s east side. That project still needs more funding, though.

Beyond tourists, the policy may also disrupt some local ranchers and farmers who currently travel the highway.

One rancher who travels the highway to reach his ranch reached out to White early in the planning process, she said. He had a custom trailer built so it’s narrow enough to make it through the tunnel.

“People are adjusting,” White said.

Enforcement

Fee rangers will enforce the new policy at entrance gates. Rangers will no longer monitor the entrances to the tunnels and instead the park will turn vehicles around before they reach the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway.

“They have a really good sense of the scale of a large vehicle, but if it’s close, then they will get out and physically measure it,” said White. The park also is in the process of getting a lidar system, a remote sensing measuring tool, for easier measurement at the south entrance, she said.

The park may also station some law enforcement rangers at Canyon Junction as a second line of defense as people adjust to the change, White added.

Visitors traveling in tour buses or large RVs won’t be able to enter the park on the east side, but they still can access the park through the south entrance if they plan to park in the large vehicle lot next to the visitor center, if space is available; they have a pass to visit the Zion Lodge; they plan to drive up the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive during the off-season when shuttles are not operating; or they are staying at the Watchman or South Campgrounds, when open.

For travelers hoping to also visit Bryce Canyon National Park or the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, alternate routes that add roughly 10 to 45 minutes of drive time also exist, the park said.

More information on the new restrictions can be found on the park’s website.