Kautz Creek overflows onto Paradise Road in Mount Rainier National Park in November.
Mount Rainier National Park has a backlog of deferred maintenance projects totaling $298,372,137.
The figures come as part of the National Park Service’s 2014 deferred maintenance statistics, which totaled $11.49 billion nationwide. The figure is up from the $11.3 billion reported at the end of 2013.
Deferred maintenance is necessary work that has been delayed for more than a year on infrastructure such as roads, bridges, visitor centers, trails and campgrounds.
In a press release, park officials say the issues are exacerbated by an increasing number of visitors using aging facilities and insufficient maintenance funding.
However, the NPS fiscal year 2016 budget request includes a major effort to reduce the maintenance backlog for the agency’s 2016 centennial.
“If funded, the National Park Service’s 2016 budget request will allow us to restore several of our highest priority non-transportation assets to good condition. An example of an important project this funding would enable at Mount Rainier is the rehabilitation and seismic stabilization of the historic Paradise Inn Annex, built in 1921,” Superintendent Randy King said in the press release.
“We need to have facilities that can accommodate guests and provide the best possible visitor experience.”
Some funds the National Park Service receives for these projects come via the Federal Lands Transportation Program in the surface transportation bill.
According to the NPS, officials says those funds would expire in May.
President Barack Obama’s proposal for the transportation bill now under consideration in Congress includes about $150 million in new funding for nationally significant projects that would be awarded competitively for major transportation projects on federal and tribal lands.
“President Obama’s proposal to fund nationally significant transportation projects could address some of the National Park Service’s large, critical deferred maintenance transportation projects,” said King.
“The recent rehabilitation of 10 miles of the Stevens Canyon Road, and the ongoing work to rehabilitate the 17-mile Nisqually Road to Paradise, are examples of critical transportation projects needed at Mount Rainier.”
Deferred maintenance figures by type, park and state are available at http://go.nps.gov/deferredmaint.
