16 miles of Hole-in-the-Rock Road to be rebuilt

[Kniwt]

The Salt Lake Tribune reports:
http://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2017/10/25/rebuild-planned-for-utahs-historic-and-hellish-hole-in-the-rock-road/

Utah's Hole in the Rock road is sometimes referred to as "57 miles of hell"  – good for trashing vehicles, less useful for accessing Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument's slot canyons and historic sites along the route named for the 1879-80 pioneer expedition.

Yet it is the monument's most traveled road and the busiest non-state highway in Garfield County, seeing up to 200 vehicles a day, according to county engineer Brian Bremner. And many visitors aren't pleased with the famous road's sorry, channel-like condition that turns the drive from Escalante to Glen Canyon into a three-hour ordeal, on a good day.

Now, the county has the money to rebuild Garfield's 16-mile stretch of the road and is seeking the Bureau of Land Management's permission to proceed. County officials say they plan to repair past flood damage, narrow the roadway, shore up culverts and make it easier to maintain and drive on. Maintaining the road is currently a never-ending task, they say – where grading crews continually work the road bed, yet mud bogs still form, ensuring the road continues to widen as drivers go to the sides to avoid pools.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyKARRcQSv4

[US 89]

The only way they can eliminate the flood damage and mud bogs for good is to pave the road. Otherwise, in 10 years it's just going to get like it was before. That area is very prone to flash floods, especially from the monsoon thunderstorms between July and September.

[Max Rockatansky]

What the hell do people really expect out there in that remote country?...    Really you shouldn't be messing around anything on the Staircase unless you have a decent four wheeler with high clearance to begin with.  That crowd really isn't bothered about the condition of a Forest Service Road.  What's next Old Escalante Road?