When Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was authorized by the U.S. Congress in 1966 as America’s first national lakeshore, its enabling legislation called for a scenic shoreline drive as part of the park’s development, but did not specify exactly where the road should be, and because funds were never appropriated amid other national priorities including the Vietnam War effort, the road was neither designed nor built. The delay caused tremendous frustration among local individuals and units of government, many of whom felt they had been misled into supporting the park’s establishment, while growing pressure to fund the project was met by rising opposition to building a road through undeveloped portions of the park, producing years of controversy as several alternative locations were considered. In 1998, to protect the most pristine portions of the park, Congress amended the enabling legislation to prohibit the National Park Service from constructing a road through the main portion of the park, forcing a compromise in which the National Park Service and the Alger County Road Commission endorsed reconstructing and paving the existing sand and gravel Alger County H-58. Using a combination of federal and state funds between 1990 and 2010, H-58 was redesigned and paved to improve access to and through Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and connect the gateway communities of Munising and Grand Marais. In 2009, as the road project was ending, Congress also established the Beaver Basin Wilderness, giving permanent legal protection to the central portion of the park. After more than 40 years, these actions ended the controversy over balancing road access with protection of nationally significant resources at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.