Skywalk road update

Roadside America has an interesting update about the horrible, 14-mile Diamond Bar Road that leads to the Grand Canyon Skywalk, which is off Route 66.

The developers of Skywalk spent millions of dollars on their horseshoe-shaped walkway, but apparently couldn’t spent a million or two more to improve the primitive road leading to it. Complaints about the road was one of many that plagued Skywalk after its opening in March.

So are Skywalk and tribal officials doing anything to improve things? Sort of …

For 14 miles Diamond Bar Road twists its way through rock-strewn dry washes and canyons, shaking apart anything that isn’t strapped down in your car and kicking grit into your teeth, even with all of the windows closed. That will change, however, beginning in 2008. That’s when the Hualapai tribe, which owns the Skywalk, starts paving and rerouting the road. The work is expected to take up to two years, owing to the challenge of taming such bad-ass terrain. […]

When Skywalk officially opened we skipped the press buses and helicopters and drove in (Try holding a video camera while steering). Since then the road has been beaten and rutted by tens of thousands of additional Skywalk-bound vehicles. Most made it, but some didn’t. The Hualapai quickly realized what was happening and tried to limit the damage. It laid down four inches of new gravel, then suppressed the dust and jumping stones by covering the road with something called “Durasoil.” “It’s used in Iraq,” Yellowhawk said. “It’s vegetable oil-based. They say you can eat it, but I’m not trying it.” […]

The maintenance work continued until August. Then “monsoon season” arrived and thunderstorms turned the roadway into a river. […]

The governor declared a state of emergency. FEMA was called in. The floodwaters receded, the new rocks were pushed to the side, and the road was reopened. But the Hualapai had had enough. They settled a lawsuit with an obstructionist landowner, and now plan to spend $20 million widening, paving, rerouting, and building bridges on Diamond Bar Road. By 2010 its abusive days will be history — if the monsoons don’t flood things out again.

It’s going to be a long two years. And that sounds like a big “if.”