The start of a multi-year project to tear down and rebuild the Chisos Mountains Lodge at Big Bend National Park has been delayed once again and is now set to begin in August.
The updated timeline was recently posted on the park’s website. The $22 million project — which is expected to take at least two years — was originally slated to begin this May and was previously pushed back to July.
Tom VandenBerg, a park spokesperson, said in an email there was “no particular reason” for the latest delay and that the park expects to open a solicitation period for construction bids soon.
“Once it goes ‘live’ there will need to be time for responses, and then time for selection, and review,” he said. “There are no hold-ups or fiscal delays that we are aware of.”
The delay to August means park visitors will have one more month to access the popular Chisos Basin mountain area before it is closed to visitors for the duration of the project, though the summer months are typically the park’s slowest season.
Under the current plan, two of the park’s most popular central trails — the Window Trail and Lost Mine Trail — will be completely closed to visitors once construction begins. Campgrounds, facilities and the road into the Chisos Basin will be closed as well. While some parts of the basin’s mountain trail system will remain open, they will only be accessible by much longer hikes.
The park has said that staff will regularly reassess which areas can be safely reopened to the public as the project moves forward..
Funding for the project stems from the Great American Outdoors Act, a sweeping public lands investment approved by Congress in 2020.
In 2022, Big Bend officials settled on the plan to completely demolish the 61-year-old lodge after concluding it wouldn’t be feasible to renovate the building. Because of the clay soil the lodge was built on, its foundation has shifted over the years, causing what the park has described as “significant damage” to the building’s foundation, roof, walls and other components.
Plans for the new Chisos Mountains Lodge and restaurant call for a stucco and natural stone-clad exterior that will mimic the original building’s aesthetics.
According to the park’s current timeline for the project, a construction contract is expected to be awarded in August, with a target finish date of Fall 2027.
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