Representatives from the National Park Service, Fann Contracting, Paul Revere Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration cut the ribbon at last weekend's re-opening of Hermit Road.
The park's most popular scenic road reopened last Saturday with a ribbon cutting and thank-you's all around for timely completion of a project that modernized the 75-year-old Hermit Road while maintaining its historic character.
Speakers at the ceremony were Park Superintendent Steve Martin, Jason Fann of Fann Contracting and Rick Suarez, Division Engineer from the Federal Highways Administration, Central Federal Lands Highway Division.
"We've retained the historical character of the road," Martin said. "It still winds but it's wider and safer. The rock work on the trail retains its historic character. The whole project sits lightly on the land."
Fann said that he was grateful to have worked on the job.
"It was pretty special. Everyone took ownership and pride," he said.
Saurez agreed, saying "It's an honor to be called upon to work in these very special places. Detail is important in special places like this."
The project, which started last March, resurfaced the road and widened it to 24 feet. Other work included upgrading shuttle stops and five and a half miles of the Rim Trail. The park's trail crew was assisted by volunteer groups including the Student Conservation Association, American Conservation Experience and the Sierra Club. The revegetation crew put in more than 20,000 native plants.
According to Fann, it and the South Entrance used 35,000 tons of asphalt and 8,000 tons of aggregate base. More than 17,000 square yards of trail were added along with 9,000 cubic yards of hand-placed rocks and boulders.
The $13 million project was funded with entrance fee money.
"This was made possible by the visitors," said Martin, thanking those who attended for the ribbon cutting and cake and punch afterwards.
Challenges including working around one of just a couple of colonies of endangered plant found only at Grand Canyon. To accommodate the sentry milkvetch recovery efforts, Maricopa Point was redesigned with a larger buffer zone between the Rim Trail and the fenced off area where the plants are.
Another challenge was where to redirect the visitors during construction. Martin said that he worried that closing the road, which sees 1 million visitors each year, would lead to traffic chaos in the village. He thanked Paul Revere Transportation, which ran tours on Desert View Drive in the interim, that it didn't happen.
All of the speakers acknowledged Project Manager Vicky Stinson, with Martin saying she "kept everyone on the right road" and Fann added praise for her leadership and attention to detail.
"I appreciate how much you care about doing things right in this special place," Suarez said.
After the ceremony, shuttle buses began the first runs on the road since early summer. Martin sent visitors out with a challenge - to guess which stones were laid by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and which were put down by the park's trail crew over the past six months.
