$36 Million 1/2 mile road @MRNP?

OK, I know I shouldn't start this, but I have to ask. Was anyone else dumbfounded in the opposite way they expected us to be when they saw the new road work @ MRNP? Now I know the $36 mill is supposed to cover other damage as well, but I've also read est's up to $70mill and yet there is barely a half mile of road rebuild that I could see. The repaired curve in the road at the old Sunrise Point Cmpgrnd is about 0.1 mile long, the Kautz Crk repair is about a 0.3 mile long straight-away with two side-by-side culverts where the new creek flows, and there are two areas about 20-30yrds long each, beyond Cougar Cmpgrnd, where the edge of the road slumped and there is new rock and one lane of pavement. I'm not a road builder, but it amazes me that this took 6 months and maybe 30-some million dollars to repair. I'm in no way disparaging the work the workers did, but it looks like road building 101 to me. I would love to hear what others thought when they drove over this; esp someone from Oregon, like Jeff Huber, who had good looks @ the road damage and repairs around Hood Meadows that went so quickly. MRNP was right when they said "you won't believe the changes and new look when you come to the Park", but not in the way I thought ???.

$100,000 in road repairs, $29,900,000 in EPA palm grease... :

First- let me state that I don't know the details about the Mt Rainier situation (I've only looked at photos) but I do work for a Public Works department so I have learned a little through "osmosis". ;D

No doubt that the damage occurring within the National Park has probably added a whole new level of overhead to the process. The damage in Oregon you referred to happened on Hwy 35 which is located in National Forest land (a managed forest). I'm guessing that the National Park designation makes their work more difficult from a regulatory standpoint.

There are going to be several regulatory agencies that have a duty to oversee any repairs proposed: the Army Corps of Engineers (they regulate wetlands and "waters of the US"), National Marine Fisheries (NMFS), and US Fish & Wildlife (USF&W). All three agencies are not keen on dropping rock (or riprap) back into the river along the shore since it dimishes salmon habitat. To that point, if the damage locations lie within known habitat for one of the Threatened or Endangered species (Chinook, Bulltrout, and now Steelhead), this can REALLY slow down the repair process because the agencies will really scrutinize your scope of work. It's not malicious- it's their job.

In the repair projects at my job, some of the repairs happen instantly but for more significant repairs, this will require some level of consultation with the regulatory agencies. In both cases, the work you do still requires you apply for the necessary permits (called "after the fact" permitting) for things such as filling wetlands, working in waters of the US, etc.

I had no idea what it takes to build or widen a road when I started but it's been an eye opener. Projects like this take time & money largely due to the environmental process. While the laws may be flawed when it comes to their actual implementation, they were put in place to help protect the resources that we all value and want to enjoy.

I volunteered at the park this past weekend and got more of the story.

The estimate is for all the road repair. The repair you saw is only a small fraction of the repair work and there's much more to do.

Work already done you haven't seen or noticed: at Longmire an administration building that was undermined had to be shored up and end of road rebuilt. They had to rip-rap the river near the admin. building; Kautz Creek had to be re-routed twice. The Kautz Creek re-routing is still vulnerable to further washouts because of logjams which need to be addressed.

Work still to do: There's numerous washouts on Stevens Canyon Road, 123 and Carbon River. One of the washouts on 123 left a 70ft. deep crater that will take as much fill as all of the roadwork completed so far.

The Carbon River may never re-open to car traffic. The river grade is above the road grade. In several places the river re-routed itself onto the area where the road was. Endangered bull trout have taken up residence in the river in an area formerly occupied by road. The area where the road could be re-routed is old growth and spotted owl habitat. There's going to have to be more detailed environmental study, budgeting, perhaps Congressional action and public input before a final decision on the road's fate is made.

Being a proffessional estimator in the construction business I can agree with Scoles's comments rearding the cost of environmental issues. The permitting process and resulting constraints on the construction process are very costly but  this process was put in place to protect the resources we all hold so dear. In the big picture,IMHO these restraints are necessary to prevent the damage done by construction in the past., less regulated days.  

I can't comment on the cost of the repairs as I haven't seen the scope of works involved but projects for the Feds, NPS etc. tend to be much more costly than for other agencies due to the process their contract and specifications demand.