Tourist plan draws fire

last updated 8 January 2015

Grand Canyon West, Ariz.

An Arizona Indian tribe will soon open a $40 million glass walkway extending 70 feet over the Grand Canyon, where tourists will have a knee-weakening, see-through view a mile above the canyon floor. The Skywalk is the centerpiece of planned development by the Hualapi tribe that will open up a previously inaccessible 100-mile stretch along the canyon’s South Rim. Tribal leaders said the development will attract much-needed tourist dollars, but environmentalists and park officials say the massive glass-and-steel platform will deface a national treasure. “It’s the equivalent of an upscale carnival ride,” said former Grand Canyon National Park superintendent Robert Arnberger. “Why would they desecrate this place with this?”