Yellowstone: South loop opens Wednesday, north loop in the next two weeks

JACKSON — Barely a week after floods wiped out roads in the northern part of Yellowstone National Park, officials plan to reopen the park’s southern loop Wednesday with a license plate-based system to control the amount of visitors to the park’s southern half.

National Park Service Director Charles “Chuck” Sams III also announced Sunday that officials will likely allow access to more than 80% of the park’s roads shortly afterward.

“In the next two weeks, we will be opening the northern loop,” Sams told a crowd of reporters Sunday afternoon, referring to the northern portion...