Public Comments Sought on Road Project

The National Park Service, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, Central Federal Lands Highway Division, has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) that proposes to reconstruct and rehabilitate approximately 23.5 miles of Pinto Basin Road (Park Route 11) at Joshua Tree National Park. The primary objective of the project would be to improve road safety. The proposed action would include widening, realigning, and modifying the existing 20- to 22-foot-wide paved road to a 24-foot- wide road, with a design speed of 35 or 45 miles per hour. It would also redesign and realign the road to improve sight distances at Cholla Cactus Garden, Porcupine Wash, and at the Pinkham Canyon Road intersection. The proposed action is part of a phased effort to rehabilitate many of the park’s primary roadways in accordance with the 1995 Joshua Tree National Park General Management Plan.

The Environmental Assessment is available for public review at the NPS Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) website (https://parkplanning.nps.gov). You may access an electronic draft of the EA by selecting ‘Joshua Tree National Park’ in the ‘Choose a park’ menu. Printed copies of the EA will be available for public review at the Yucca Valley, Twentynine Palms, and Palm Desert public libraries. You may also obtain a copy of the EA by contacting Joshua Tree National Park at 760-367-5502.

As part of the public involvement process, a meeting will be held on July 28 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm to review the Environmental Assessment and receive comments. The meeting will be held at Black Rock Nature Center, 9800 Black Rock Canyon Road, Yucca Valley, California, five miles south of Highway 62 in Yucca Valley via Joshua Lane. National Park Service staff will be on hand to discuss the proposed alternatives and to answer questions from the public. Copies of the Pinto Basin Road Environmental Assessment will be available at the meeting.

Comments on the Environmental Assessment must be submitted in writing by mail to: Superintendent, Joshua Tree National Park, 74485 National Park Drive, Twentynine Palms, CA 92277-3597, or by email to: [e-mail]. Please include the phrase “Pinto Basin Road” at the top of your comments or in your email subject line. Comments will be accepted that have been postmarked or transmitted no later than August 13, 2011.

Please note that names and addresses of people who comment become part of the public record. Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information, you should be aware that your entire comment, including your personal identity, may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. Such requests must be stated prominently in the beginning of the comments. As always, the National Park Service will make available to public inspection all submissions from organizations or businesses and from persons identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations and businesses. Anonymous comments may not be considered.