Tiny Tusayan, Ariz. (pop. 558) has approved adding 2,200 homes and 3 million square feet of commercial space to the two-block long town. Park officials wonder where the water will come to support this influx of homes. During summer 2012, Arizona DOT completed improvements to Route 64 through Tusayan, a short drive to the Grand Canyon's southern rim and the NPS Visitors Center. Roadway work included widening the five lane divided highway to make room for raised center medians and bus pullouts, and the construction of two roundabout intersections. Enhancements included new sidewalks, granite paths, decorative signage and landscaping.
Photo: Michael Quinn

 

Tiny Tusayan, Ariz. (pop. 558) has approved adding 2,200 homes and 3 million square feet of commercial space to the two-block long town. Park officials wonder where the water will come to support this influx of homes. During summer 2012, Arizona DOT completed improvements to Route 64 through Tusayan, a short drive to the Grand Canyon's southern rim and the NPS Visitors Center. Roadway work included widening the five lane divided highway to make room for raised center medians and bus pullouts, and the construction of two roundabout intersections. Enhancements included new sidewalks, granite paths, decorative signage and landscaping.
Photo: EPA.gov

The Navajo Nation is a 27,000 square-mile reservation at the confluence of the Little Colorado and Colorado rivers in northern Arizona. It abuts the east rim of the Grand Canyon, and is larger in area than West Virginia (24,231 sq. miles). The Navajo Nation has signed off on building a multi-million-dollar resort that includes a gondola ride from the rim of the Grand Canyon to an elevated Colorado River walk on the canyon floor, a restaurant, a half-mile river walk with railings, a resort hotel and spa and RV park, anticipating up to $70 million a year in revenue for the tribe and 2,000 jobs.

Other areas around the canyon are also seeing action. Near the south entrance to Grand Canyon National Park, tiny Tusayan (pop. 558), the smallest town in Arizona by area, has approved adding 2,200 homes and 3 million square feet of commercial space to a town two blocks long.

The main stumbling block is water, an issue Grand Canyon National Park continually faces. The park brings water to its South Rim hotels, restaurants, etc., via a 13-mile pipeline from springs on the north side of the canyon, and stores it in 13 million gallon water tanks. The Tusayan developers, who have been trying to build at the canyon since 1991, are looking at water options, including tapping into the plateau's aquifer, or repurposing an old coal pipeline to transport water. Given the scarcity of water, park officials are encouraging less ambitious development plans for Tusayan.

A current popular attraction at the Grand Canyon is just outside the Grand Canyon National Park on the western edge of the canyon. In 2007, the Hualapai Tribe had erected Skywalk, a horseshoe-shaped glass cantilever bridge that juts out 70 feet over the canyon's edge, with views of the Colorado River 4,770 feet below, an acrophobe's true daymare. The decking and railings are made of low-iron glass with DuPont SentryGlas interlayers. Future plans for the Grand Canyon Skywalk complex include a museum, movie theater, VIP lounge and gift shop.