Visitors to Yellowstone National Park will be able to drive Old Faithful and the Grand of the Yellowstone starting this Friday, April 18. The routes from West Yellowstone and Mammoth Hot Springs will be open to motorists starting at 8 a.m.

In addition, park entrance fees will be waived April 19 and 20 to kick off National Park Week. The normal fee for a seven-day pass to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks is $25 for a private, non-commercial vehicle.

In a press release, the park warned visitors to be aware that spring in Yellowstone is very unpredictable and often brings cold temperatures, high winds and falling snow. They caution that even cleared sections of roads can be narrow and covered with a layer of snow, ice and debris. Visitors should use extreme caution when driving as road clearing operations can be ongoing at any time throughout the park. Also even though the roads are now open, in the case of extreme weather conditions, temporary road closures are also possible with little or no advance warning.

More roads will open during May as clearing operations progress. Yellowstone’s East Entrance is scheduled to open to travel on Friday, May 2. The park’s South Entrance is set to open to the public on Friday, May 9. The road from the park’s North Entrance at Gardiner, Mont., through Mammoth Hot Springs to the Northeast Entrance, Silver Gate and Cooke City, Mont., is open all year. The road east of Cooke City to WY-296 typically opens by mid-May. Crews from the National Park Service and the Montana Department of Transportation strive to open US-212 over the Beartooth Pass to Red Lodge, Mont., in time for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Those who take advantage of the newly opned roads will discover that construction is underway north of the entrance to the Norris Campground on the road to Mammoth Hot Springs. A 5.4 mile section of the road is being rebuilt, as is the bridge over the Gardner River. Visitors should expect daytime delays of up to 30 minutes, with nightly closures between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. beginning June 1. This section of road will be closed to all traffic from 11:00 p.m. September 14, to 7:00 a.m. on September 30.

This article appeared on the Teton Valley News website on April 16, 2014.