Visitors travelling from the east into Jasper National Park will have their wait times cut by 30 per cent this summer thanks to new toll booths set to be installed at the east park gate.

Parks Canada is aiming to have the gates installed by July 17.

“This will reduce wait times by up to 30 minutes and give visitors more time to enjoy what the park has to offer,” said Sean Nardella, visitor experience promotions officer with Jasper National Park. “Nobody likes to wait longer.”

The new booths will sit behind the current booths, allowing park gate officials to process two cars at once. A similar project in Banff resulted in a 30 per cent cut in wait times, and Jasper National Park is expecting the same result.

Some visitors were reporting wait times of up to 30 minutes during busy long weekends at the East Park Gate.

The new booths will cost $150,000 and are being created by Parks Canada carpenters, skipping the need to tender out the job. They will be insulated and will be open during the winter as well.

“They’ll be similar to the current booths,” Nardella said.

The extra booths mean more staff will be working at the park gates.

Park gate fees are being used to pay for the new booths as Nardella said the money collected is directly invested into programs that enhance visitor experience, such as repairs to Cavell Road and the cottage tent program, which offers new tent campers a more comfortable experience. The decision to spend more on visitor experience specifically targets new Canadians.

Many residents and tourism groups have called for a thru-lane to be installed at the east gate in order to allow those with park passes to skip the toll booths and the subsequent line-ups. A similar set up is at the east gates in Banff, which experiences long line-ups on long weekends.

But Parks Canada believes the extra toll booths are a more cost effective solution.

“A thru-lane would have cost millions,” Nardella said, noting this was a more cost-effective solution to cutting wait times.

A front country model class screening environmental assessment was completed for the expansion, which also has a much smaller ecological footprint than adding a thru-lane.

Currently, there are no plans this year to add extra booths at the west and southern park gates, however Nardella said it is a possibility in the future. The longest wait times have been recorded at the east gate, as many visitors travelling from Edmonton use that entrance.

The new toll booths are expected to be in place by Parks Day, and Nardella said some sort of promotion will likely accompany the opening. Traditionally, all fees are waived on Parks Day.

Jasper National Park wants to see a two per cent increase in visitation this year, as outlined in the newly passed management plan, which was tabled in the House of Commons last week. According to the most recent numbers, Jasper National Park has seen a .1 per cent increase in visitors for the 2009-2010 season. That data however, is from April 2009 to March 2010.

In other Parks Canada news, officials are reminding the public Cavell road will remain closed until the end of July. Paving work on the road has been completed, however there is still ditching work to be done. There have been some reports of cyclists using the road, however Parks Officials maintain the public must stay off the road until all work is complete.