DEATH VALLEY (KTNV) — Nature lovers, rejoice!
Death Valley National Park is continuing to reopen roads after making repairs in the aftermath of Hurricane Hilary.
On Aug. 2023, as the hurricane moved through the area, park officials said they received a year's worth of rain in one day. Death Valley received 2.2 inches of rain at their official gauge near Furnace Creek. That broke the previous all-time wettest day record of 1.7 inches of rain, which was set on Aug. 5, 2022.
It led to flooding across the park and hundreds of people sheltered in place until roads were passable.
Since then, National Park Service officials have been working to repair hundreds of miles of roads, which were damaged in the storm. The park was officially closed for eight weeks, the longest in Death Valley's history, and reopened to visitors in October.
While travel was initially limited to just a few roads, Death Valley rangers have been completing work over the past couple of months, getting more routes back online.
On Saturday, rangers announced another 195 miles of roads have officially reopened.
Contractors, managed by Federal Highway Administration, did emergency repairs of Emigrant Canyon Road, a 21-mile paved road. Crews cleared debris off the road, filled in shoulder, and filled in destroyed sections of road with aggregate and asphalt cold patch.
Newly reopened roads include:
- Emigrant Canyon Road, from CA-190 to Wildrose Campground
- Side roads off Emigrant Canyon, including Telephone Canyon, Aguereberry Point, Skidoo, and Wood Canyon
- West Side Road from the southern Badwater Road Junction to just north of Trail Canyon Junction
- Roads off West Side Road, including Warm Springs, Galena, Queen of Sheba, Johnson, and Trail Canyon
- Saratoga Spring and Ibex Roads
- Owlshead Road
Despite so much progress, rangers said there is still work to do.
Environmental and archaeological assessments are underway along Titus Canyon Road, which will likely reopen next spring.
Crews are now shifting equipment to work on unpaved roads in the eastern and northern areas of the park.
You can see the latest updates and road closures here.
