Dumont Dunes Entrance Road Paving Project

The Federal Highway Administration recently announced a project that will put a smile on many duners faces. After many years, the entrance road to Dumont Dunes is finally getting paved. If you are a regular of Dumont, chances are you have experienced the 4 miles of teeth chattering, washboard road that has done damage to many trailers and RVs. The condition of the gravel road is always changing and requires much maintenance. We even have an entrance road update post here on the forum where users rate the road in using a A-F grade. It's not too bad when it gets bladed, but that is usually before holiday weekends and sometimes it doesn't even get done. While this brings relief to 99% of Dumont users, some worry the entrance road will bring even more of the crowd that abuses Dumont Dunes. There's an old saying, "good roads bring bad people".  Let's just hope that doesn't happen and everyone respects the dunes and the rules/ laws are followed and enforced. 

Dumont entrance road with an "F rating"

photo: sand chick

The Project

The paving project will begin summer of 2022 and hopefully we'll see it finished by fall 2022. 

Quote

This project involved roadway rehabilitation of Dumont Dunes Road starting from the intersection with State Highway 127 and continuing east for 3.9 miles. A new road template will be established, and aggregate road base and a hot mix asphalt pavement surface course added for 3.1 miles. The 0.1 miles entrance to Little Dumont Dunes Road will have similar improvements. The last 0.75 miles of Dumont Dunes Road will be improved with aggregate road base. The staging area and the surface of the fee collection and operations area will be improved. No culverts will be added but existing roadside berms built up over years of grading will be removed to allow sheet drainage and side ditches and/or low areas in the road established where needed. The existing low water crossing will be replaced with a concrete low water crossing of approximately 250-ft in length. Roadway striping will be added to the newly paved section of road and MUTCD signs and other safety improvements investigated and designed.

 

source: https://highways.dot.gov/federal-lands/projects/ca/ftbl-dumont-dunes-1

photo: Federal Highway Administration

Funding

The first thing that comes to mind anytime there are improvements made to Dumont is "who's paying for this?" Well the good news is the roughly $3,000,000 project is funded by the Federal Lands Transportation Program (FLTP) for the Bureau of Land Management and it is not coming from the users of Dumont Dunes.  

Thoughts?

Do you love it? Hate it? What are your thoughts? Please comment below or visit the topic on the forum and let us know. 

Updates

Aug 2022:

The public should be aware of the pending road construction when planning a visit to the Dumont Dunes Off-Highway Vehicle area. The area will be open to the public; however, there may be some delays along the road and at the river crossing.

“The BLM is excited to have this infrastructure project underway,” said Associate Field Manager Jeff Childers. “We will be working closely with the contractor to ensure access to the Dumont Dunes OHV area throughout the construction process.”

https://www.blm.gov/press-release/blm-and-fhwa-begin-construction-dumont-dunes-road

Oct 18,2022: Paving is almost done!