Pinnacles National Park to Break Ground on 2024 Paving Project

Date:
April 18, 2024
Contact:Chris Symons

Project Overview:
Beginning at the end of April 2024, Pinnacles National Park will commence operations on a park-wide pavement preservation initiative. This massive project will address necessary repairs to every road and paved surface in the park, improving the condition of the road for cars and bicyclists, as well as extend the lifetime of the pavement by an estimated 10 years. However, it will also result in some disruptions to the visitor experience during the late spring and early summer period of 2024. Thank you for your patience and understanding while this critical project is underway!

West Pinnacles Impact:
The most significant disruptions will occur at the beginning of the project, which will necessitate the complete closure of the west side entrance to all traffic during standard workweek days for three weeks. Beginning Monday April 29, 2024, the West Entrance road closes to all traffic, including foot and bicycle traffic as well as motor vehicles, while the narrow road on the west side is being serviced. The calendar of operational closures on the west side then continues as follows:

• The west entrance will remain closed from Monday, April 29 through Friday, May 3.
• The west entrance will re-open for the weekend days of May 4 and May 5.
• The west entrance will be closed again Monday, May 6 through Thursday, May 9.
• The west entrance will re-open for the weekend beginning on Friday, May 10 through Sunday, May 12.
• The west entrance will again be closed Monday, May 13 through Thursday, May 16.
• The west entrance will re-open to the public on Friday, May 17.No further total closures are scheduled, for the west or east sides.

Both Friday, May 10 and Friday, May 17 are currently scheduled to be open to the public; However, these days may be closed if an issue or project extension is required for additional work. This will not impact the Saturday / Sunday weekends following, which will be open regardless.

While the west entrance will be open on the previously mentioned weekends, during this time period the Jawbone parking lot will be the staging area for the heavy equipment being utilized for the project, and thus will not be open. This will significantly limit parking availability, as only the Chaparral and Visitor Center lots will be available to the public. Visitors are advised to arrive early or come later in the afternoon and evening to avoid the midday peak visitation time. Standard operating hours for the west entrance of 7:30am to 8pm still apply, and all visitors still need to limit their recreation to this time period.

East Pinnacles Impact
Beginning at the end of April through early June, the east entrance road will be receiving treatments that necessitate the occasional closure of one lane to adequately and safely address. While this is occurring, the park will manage alternating traffic along the remaining one lane, resulting in potentially 30 minute delays to visitors driving through. Standard park congestion and traffic holds from high-season visitation will still be in place as needed, but the paving project itself will not otherwise impact wait-times outside the expected 30 minute delays.

Between Tuesday, May 14 and Friday, May 17 there will be micro-surfacing work on the east side, that will require intermittent closures of parking areas while surfacing and drying is occurring. The most significant parking lot closures on the east side during these dates will be as follows:

• Tuesday, May 14: The Bear Gulch Picnic and Condor Gulch restroom parking lots in the Bear Gulch area will be closed for servicing.
• Wednesday, May 15: Half of the Bear Gulch parking lot will be closed for servicing, while the other half remains open for visitor use and access. The RV and group campsite roads will be closed for several hours as well, during which time arriving campers may need to wait to park at their site.
• Thursday, May 16: Campground site roads for tent sites will be closed for several hours, during which time campers arriving at their site may need to wait to park at their site.
• Friday, May 17: Half of the Bear Gulch parking lot will be closed for servicing, while the other half remains open for visitor use and access. The Moses Springs and Manzanita parking areas will also be closed for servicing.

The paved campground areas and roads will receive this treatment as well, so individuals camping during this time should expect similar minor disruptions along any paved roads and surfaces in the campground area. There will be no full closures related to camp sites or campground areas. Visitors will need to park their vehicles fully on their gravel campground sites, and not on pavement surfaces, to avoid obstructing the ongoing project work.

Pinnacles National Park will not see any work or closures occurring between Saturday, May 25 through Monday, May 27 due to the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

While the park initiates the patch paving, chip sealing, micro-surfacing, and micro-striping on the east side, visitors are asked to please drive carefully and watch for workers along the roadside.

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in the National Parks
This critical project at Pinnacles National Park is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a nationwide investment in transit and infrastructure that allocates over $1.73 billion to the National Park Service. This investment will help NPS nationally address:

• Climate and Severe Weather Resiliency: Projects that improve the resiliency of transportation infrastructure to sea level rise and severe weather events, including roads and bridges that are designated evacuation routes or located in at-risk areas.
• Connections to Underserved Gateway Communities: Projects that directly connect or improve access to nearby local communities. Including those which encourage walking, bicycling, or transit use to NPS locations. Examples include new transit facilities, paved trails, and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure that connects underserved rural and urban communities and Tribal lands.
• Electric Vehicles and Charging Stations: Projects to enable electric vehicle use in NPS lands. For example, the NPS is replacing Zion National Park's aging bus fleet with one of the largest battery-electric bus purchases in North America. The bus electrification project will help the park reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, reduce noise, and save on operating costs. Additionally, the NPS has over 150 public electric vehicle charging stations. The NPS is working through partnerships to build out an expanded network of electric vehicle chargers, supported by BIL funding.
• Wildlife Crossings: Projects to reduce the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions and improve habitat connectivity, including construction of wildlife bridges and tunnels, fencing, and culvert replacements which enable wildlife to avoid crossing roadways where mortality often occurs.
• Rehabilitation and Repair Projects: Repairs to existing parkways, roads, bridges, paved trails, tunnels, parking areas, transit facilities, and transit fleet replacements, reducing the backlog of deferred maintenance and ensuring the majority of transportation facilities remain in good condition.

Follow project updates and news releases on www.nps.gov/pinn for further details about park closures and operations.

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