A group from Moab, Utah, is pushing a plan to remove all private vehicles from Arches National Park/Kurt Repanshek file

Staff at Arches National Park in Utah is being asked to support another study into whether a shuttle system could solve their traffic congestion problems.

A few years back the park conducted its own study into whether shuttle buses could relieve vehicle congestion in the iconic park. The determination was that shuttles would not be effective.

Although it may seem that the shuttle would be the solution, the length of the park’s road system, a total of 52 miles, and the distance between several key areas in the park, planners concluded that in the best-case scenario it would result in a reduction of 23-28 percent of cars, require one-way travel times up to one hour and 20 minutes, and would require $3 million to operate during a five-month season under a service contract. This cost does not include purchasing and maintaining the 14 buses required to provide the service. Arches also looked at the shuttle operations at Zion, Bryce and Rocky Mountain national parks and noted that although visitors enjoyed this option, the pulses of 40 plus visitors who were dropped off on a trail at one time was causing resource damage and more crowding on the trails.

With that possibility off the consideration list, park staff moved in the direction of a reservation system to control traffic. But when a preliminary economic study predicted that the Moab, Utah, area could see an economic drop of between $11 million and $22 million in the first year of such a program, pushback led to that idea being removed from consideration, as well. That left the park staff to reconsider a shuttle system and possibly a second entrance road to the park.

This week the Moab Transit Authority Study Committee sent a shuttle proposal (attached below) to park staff to consider. If the National Park Service, Grand County, and Moab officials don't object, the Utah Department of Transportation would be asked to fund the study, said Michael Liss, a Moab man who has in the past suggested a shuttle program that would ban private vehicles in the park.

Not only would that earlier plan solve the congestion problem at Arches but, its proponents believed, it would create "the first fully sustainable, noise free, and zero emissions national park by 2030." The proposal envisioned a massive parking lot on a former uranium tailings dump along the Colorado River just outside the park entrance road that would be transformed into "Basecamp Moab," and self-driving electric vehicles that today are no more than a vision. 

"This involves thinking outside of the geographic area of the park and involves public-public-private partnerships," Liss told the Traveler a year ago. "We are now doing all the groundwork to put a 2,000-car parking lot and visitors center across the street from Arches National Park, a half-mile south on (U.S.) 191 from the Arches entrance at the  Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action DOE site. Once we can get everyone parked, we can then offer multiple ways to enter Arches."

In his latest proposal to Arches Superintendent Kate Cannon, Liss noted that, "(I)t is wonderful that UDOT has offered to fund this study, so you will not have to requisition funds from within the National Park Service."

The pitch to the Park Service says, "Moab is recognized worldwide as the premier biking destination … so we make Arches the most bike friendly National Park in the Nation."

"We encourage visitors to get out and walk, with a new network of short one way trails to more of the 2,100 arches, with convenient shuttle drop-off and pick-up locations," the proposal adds.

The pitch draws from the shuttle system at Zion National Park in Utah's southwestern corner. That shuttle system, which runs from Springdale at the park's south entrance to the Temple of Sinawava in Zion Canyon, covers fewer than 10 miles one-way vs. the more than 50 miles of road in Arches.

The Arches proposal calls for:

* A shuttle between U.S. 191 outside the park to the Arches Visitor Center;

* A "Delicate Arch Express" that would run from the visitors center to the parking area at Delicate Arch, with stops at Balanced Rock and Devils Garden;

* A Windows and Devils Garden loop shuttle, and;

* A Jeep Explorer ten-passenger vehicle (requiring an additional fee) serving the new one-way trail heads and special view points.

Additionally, the proposal calls for a "bicycle depot" at Balanced Rock where visitors who don't want to pedal from the visitors center to Balanced Rock could rent a bike; a rental fleet of road, mountain bikes, and e-bikes, and; a ban on private vehicles from March to October.

"This creates a wonderful car-free experience like we haven’t had in many years. (Car lovers will be motivated to come in the Winter months for a driving experience)," the plan asserts.

The plan's proponents also suggest that the plan be coupled with a trail building program at the park to help disperse visitors.

Park Service staff have not yet fully reviewed the plan and had no comment on it.

According to Liss, there are some key differences between the shuttle plan his group is proposing, and the one the Park Service conducted a few years ago. The 2012 proposal was for a voluntary shuttle, vs. the mandatory shuttle in the current proposal. The latest plan involves collaboration between Grand County, Moab, the Utah Department of Transportation, and the Park Service. It also calls for replacing all parking spots in the national park.

How the plan might affect those hoping to camp at the park's Devils Garden Campground was not touched on in the plan.

"It's really not my decision. We can supply all the infrastructure OUTSIDE the park, and make recommendations for within the park," Liss said when the question was posed to him.

However, citing how Zion allows rock climbers to drive into the canyon due to all the equipment they have and those with wheelchairs are allowed to drive as well, the Moab man said he could "imagine if you had a reservation for a campsite, you could drive there, park, and then use the shuttles."