{"id":11787,"date":"2022-06-20T12:18:13","date_gmt":"2022-06-20T18:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=11787"},"modified":"2022-06-20T12:18:13","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T18:18:13","slug":"much-of-yellowstone-to-reopen-wednesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=11787","title":{"rendered":"Much of Yellowstone to reopen Wednesday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Candice<\/a>
Candice Phipps, a worker at the East Gate to Yellowstone National Park, checks passes of visitors arriving from Cody in this 2012 file photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, WYO.\u00a0\u2014 With most of Yellowstone National Park undamaged by record flooding earlier this month, officials plan to reopen some roads on Wednesday, using a 1970s-era gas rationing system to limit the number of vehicles in the park. As much as 80 percent of the park is likely to be open to vehicle access within a month.<\/p>\n

At 8 a.m.\u00a0Wednesday, June 22, Yellowstone will begin allowing visitors to access the south loop of the park, including Madison, Old Faithful, Grant Village, Lake Village, Canyon Village and Norris. Visitors will be able to enter from the East (Cody, Wyo.); West (West Yellowstone, Mont.); and South (Grand Teton National Park).<\/p>\n

The move is welcomed by gateway towns that had just begun a summer tourist season that was seen as a chance to gain back ground lost to two years of COVID-19 travel restriction.<\/p>\n

Park Superintendent Cam Sholly has said that he wants to avoid allowing normal traffic levels into the park when only half of its inner loop roads are open, a situation he called \u201ca disaster waiting to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is impossible to reopen only one loop in the summer without implementing some type of system to manage visitation,\u201d Sholly said.<\/p>\n

After considering an online reservation system similar to those used by a handful of other national parks, Sholly has chose a simple method used to ease lines at the gas pumps in the 1970s: license plates. Public vehicle entry will be allowed based on whether the last numerical digit on a license plate is odd or even, the park\u2019s public affairs office said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Entrance will be granted based on odd\/even days on the calendar. Odd-numbered last digits on license plates can enter on odd days of the month. Even-numbered last digits (including zero) on license plates can enter on even days of the month.<\/p>\n

Personalized plates with all letters (for example YLWSTNE) will fall into the \u201codd\u201d category for entrance purposes. <\/span>Plates with a mix of letters and numbers but that end with a letter (for example YELL4EVR) will still use the last numerical digit on the plate to determine entrance days.<\/p>\n

Entrance station staff will turn away vehicles attempting to enter the park when the odd\/even numerical digits do not correspond to the odd\/even calendar date for entrance, park managers said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Exceptions to the system include:<\/strong><\/p>\n