The crew working on a 475-foot-long bridge in Alaska’s Denali National Park was recently told that they could no longer fly the American flag from their trucks or heavy equipment, which are being used in the $207 million Federal Highway Administration project.
The bridge is being built by Granite Construction after a 2021 rockslide took out a portion of the popular Denali Park Road that is used by visitors and tour buses to access more remote areas of the national park.
Since 2023, construction has been underway to repair the road at mile 45. This spring two mobile trucks and one piece of heavy equipment had been flying standard-sized U.S. flags.
One of the contractors working on the bridge reached out to the Alaska Watchman regarding the recent order that the flags be removed. He asked that his name not be used, given that he is actively working on the project.
According to the contractor, Denali National Park Superintendent Brooke Merrell contacted the man overseeing the federal highways project, claiming there had been complaints about the U.S. flags, and notifying him that bridge workers must stop flying the stars and strips from their vehicles because it detracts from the “park experience.”
