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Mesa Verde wants help reducing traffic, crowds

Mesa Verde National Park are asking help managing crowds and traffic inside the park.

MESA VERDE, CO - AUGUST 07: A view of a cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde National Park on August 7, 2008 in Mesa Verde, Colorado. Mesa Verde, Spanish for green table, offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1300. Today, the park protects over 4,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

CORTEZ, Colo. (AP) - Officials at Mesa Verde National Park are asking the public for help handling crowds and traffic in the park.

They're taking comment through July 14 for a new transportation plan. Deputy superintendent Bill Nelligan told the Cortez Journal that everything is on the table, including adding a public bus system.

The park's narrow and winding roads were developed primarily for people traveling in their own car but lately visitors have been requesting more hiking and bicycling options.

Most visitors flock to Chapin Mesa, hope to the Cliff Palace and Spruce Tree House. Fewer visit the ruins in Wetherill Mesa. Its narrow access road isn't suitable for larger vehicles and a lodge and overlooks were never developed there.

(Copyright 2014 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)