Mount Rainier National Park Alternative Transportation Planning Project
Client: National Park Service, Mount Rainier National Park
Mount Rainier National Park (MORA) accommodates more than 1 million visitors annually and experiences intensive visitation during summer months. During peak periods of visitation, visitors must wait in long lines to enter the park and have difficulty finding places to park their cars once they enter the park – the resultant impacts include visitor frustration, resource damage from unendorsed parking, and increased pedestrian and motor vehicle conflicts.
The park’s General Management Plan (GMP) calls for taking actions to improve transportation conditions in the park. RSG is working with NPS staff to evaluate and identify feasible strategies to implement transportation improvements specified in the GMP. The result will include coordinated deployment of shuttle service, information systems, and overflow parking management to address transportation-related impacts to park resources and visitor experiences. The project includes the following specific elements:
- Background information review and analysis to establish project understanding, context, and issues, and existing transportation and visitor use conditions.
- Project initiation site visit to document existing conditions, and meet with NPS staff to define project goals.
- Transportation and visitor use data collection.
- Feasibility analysis and implementation plan for long-term shuttle service, including service schedule and fleet, delivery strategy, and pro forma financial statement.
- Concept designs and Class C cost estimates for parking lot and intersection improvements.
- Project implementation statements for long-term shuttle service, visitor information systems, and infrastructure improvements.
