Pavement Resurfacing Contract Awarded for Mojave National Preserve

Date: April 3, 2015
Contact: Todd Suess, Superintendent, [phone]
Contact: David Moore, Chief of Maintenance, [phone]

Under an agreement with the National Park Service, the Federal Highway Administration has awarded a $4.1 million contract to resurface a quarter of the paved roads within Mojave National Preserve. The award marks the start of the first large-scale effort to address major reconstruction and resurfacing needs since the park took over management of the roads from San Bernardino County two years ago.

"We are all very excited about working with Federal Highways to improve the condition of our roads," superintendent Todd Suess said. "This is the beginning of what we hope to be continued efforts to make our roads safer for all the visiting public."

Pave-Tech Inc. of Vista, CA, won the bid to resurface approximately 40 miles of paved road. The program will get underway in mid-May and is expected to continue through the end of June.

The roads to be treated include the northern three miles of Ivanpah Road, followed by Morning Star Mine Road, Kelso Cima Road, and Zzyzx Road.

Pave-Tech will work Mondays through Fridays 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Weekend and evening work is not currently expected. Drivers will experience delays of 15 minutes or less.

The road work will include patching, thin-pavement overlays and crack sealing, or, placing specialized materials into or above cracks to prevent the intrusion of water and incompressible material and to reinforce the adjacent pavement. This work will be followed by an application of asphalt emulsion and gravel, commonly called "chip seal."

Superintendent Suess advises that he doesn't expect the work to significantly affect visitors. "We invite and encourage visitors to enjoy the resources of the Preserve both in the current cooler months and in the summer as well," he said.

Any changes and updates in traffic conditions related to this road work can be found on the Mojave National Preserve website: https://www.nps.gov/moja/index.htm.

In 2016, The Federal Highway Administration expects to award a pavement-resurfacing contract to treat the majority of the 150 miles of paved roads in Mojave that are not resurfaced this year. All the resurfaced paved roads will then be placed on a multi-year cyclic re-treatment program, subject to available federal funds.