CANMORE – A man is in hospital after his vehicle crashed into one of the Parks Canada kiosks at the east park gates for Banff National Park on Sunday evening (Aug. 11).
In a press release, Canmore RCMP stated the incident occurred around 8:50 p.m. and alcohol is believed to have been a factor in the collision.
The 60-year-old man was the only person in the vehicle when it slammed into the kiosk, causing significant damage to both the kiosk and the vehicle. The man was transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
According to Canmore RCMP Sgt. Stan Andronyk, the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
A construction crew was on scene Monday (Aug. 12) to demolish the damaged kiosk and cleanup the area affected according to Parks Canada visitor experience manager Greg Danchuk.
Danchuk said three staff were on duty at the time of the collision, however none were in the kiost that was struck and no bystanders were injured as a result.
"It is almost cleaned up already," Danchuk said Tuesday afternoon (Aug. 13). "Hopefully we will back to full operations minus one kiosk soon."
The east gates to Banff National Park has four lanes for visitors to purchase park passes, permits and obtain information. Each lane has two kiosks, and with the one demolished due to the damage caused, that leaves seven functioning for the rest of the summer season.
Danchuk said Parks was able to save the roof of the structure to be incorporate into the replacement kiosk once it is constructed at a later date. While lanes one, two and three have more historic kiosk structures, the one damaged was likely built in the 1950s he said.
"We will look at [rebuilding] over the next couple of months," Danchuk said.
Parks Canada recommends visitors plan ahead for their trips to Banff National Park, which includes arriving before the busiest time of day at the gates (10 a.m.-2p.m.). Visitors can also purchase their park passes online prior to arriving and use the through traffic lanes to avoid lineups at the kiosks.
