Yellowstone National Park has started the final phase of an $118 million project near the Northeast Entrance, tearing down the 65-year-old bridge spanning the Yellowstone River now that a new Yellowstone River Bridge is finished.
Crews are systematically dismantling the old bridge’s 604-foot concrete deck, which will be followed by the removal of its steel and concrete support beams. The project remains on schedule for completion by the end of the year.
“The Lost Creek Drainage was impacted when the original road went in, and we're going to restore it to its natural function,” Daniel Rhodes, a landscape architect with Facility Management and Operations in Yellowstone, told Cowboy State Daily in November 2024. “That'll be an important part of the restoration as we take that previous road corridor out.”
In With The New
The Yellowstone River Bridge project began in 2023 with the construction of a new, much taller bridge to carry vehicles year-round along the Northeast Entrance over the Yellowstone River to Tower Junction.
The new bridge officially opened in November 2025. It’s 1,285 feet long and sits 180 feet high, making it the second-tallest bridge in Yellowstone.
“The pillars allow the bridge deck to be up to the top of the Yellowstone River Canyon,” Rhodes said. “This minimized the excavation we had to do on each side of the bridge. The new design keeps the grade level, unlike the old bridge, which has steep grades on both approaches.”
According to Rhodes, the new bridge's design priorities were safety and minimizing its impact on the landscape. That made a taller, longer bridge the preferable option, if more ambitious.
The two-year construction of the bridge was Yellowstone’s largest infrastructure project in decades. Rhodes said the only comparable project was the construction of the Gardner River Bridge near Mammoth Hot Springs, built for $247,000 in 1939.
“Everything’s been factored in,” he said. “There's a lot of overdesign on every bridge for safety purposes, but the current estimate is that this bridge will last for at least 75 to 100 years.
"That road is open 12 months a year, so the bridge's height keeps the grades level for safer winter travel.”
Out With The Old
Removing the old Yellowstone River Bridge was always part of the project. The 1963 bridge served its purpose but had reached the end of its lifespan and needed to be replaced.
The removal was planned for this spring, and it’s currently underway and proceeding just as Rhodes said it would.
“We’ll start at one end and cut (the concrete and steel) into manageable pieces,” he said. “The piers will be the last thing taken down.”
Whenever Yellowstone officials commence with a major project, they take the opportunity to restore some of the park’s lost luster.
The $42 million Pelican Creek Bridge Replacement project done between 2018 and 2020 modernized and widened the East Entrance Road near Fishing Bridge.
It also replaced a century-old man-made earthen causeway with a 1,500-foot-long viaduct, restoring the natural flow of Pelican Creek and its surrounding marshes.
When the old Yellowstone River Bridge was built in the 1960s, it altered the Lost Creek drainage by cutting deep into the canyon walls. Now, the park has an opportunity to restore the entire area.
“An important part of the restoration will be restoring the Lost Creek drainage back to its natural function,” Rhodes said.
Now that the new bridge is open, the old bridge and the road alignment on either side will be removed and rehabilitated. That will have a positive impact on the park’s flora and fauna, he said.
Bison frequently used the old bridge as a shortcut across the Yellowstone River. Rhodes said the new bridge was designed with that accommodation in mind.
“We were experiencing that during construction,” he said. “It’s a big bison corridor, so we anticipate traffic being held up while animals are on the bridge deck, but there are safety dividers to keep the public as safe as possible when they do cross over.”
A Better Experience
As the old Yellowstone River Bridge is removed, the park's construction crews will also be doing the final touches on the new overlooks and parking lots on either side of the new bridge.
“There'll be parking on both sides of the bridge, and people can walk across the deck if they want to,” Rhodes said. “We expanded the Yellowstone River picnic area and added a short trail that will lead people to an excellent view of the canyon.”
The funding for the project came from the Great American Outdoors Act of 2020.
The act created a $9.5 billion fund to address maintenance backlog and critical projects in the National Park Service, including another $300 million for a soon-to-be announced North Entrance Road Project for Yellowstone.
Some people might feel more distant as they cross the new Yellowstone River Bridge, as it's much higher up and further from the flowing water below.
Rhodes said visitor experience is an important factor in every Yellowstone project, and he believed most people will see it as an enhancement to the park and their visit.
“It's a constant battle of safety versus what the public wants to see,” he said. “What the public wants is always a consideration, and, hopefully, this will be a big improvement.”
The final phase of the Yellowstone River Bridge project shouldn’t impact traffic on the Northeast Entrance Road when the 2026 summer season begins in May. The scheduled completion date is Nov. 30.
