Old Mine Road Washout

Originally Posted by NJSquatch

Does anyone know the extents of where the road got washed out? I am not familiar with the location of Ames Jennings Canoe Access. Is it just the dirt section?

Rumor has it that the NPS is not going to repair it and might close the road.

Want to make sure that my shad spots are still accessible north of 80.

http://www.njherald.com/article/2016...ICLE/302279992

That entire stretch from the Gap north is pretty heavily traveled especially in the summer time. The road doesn't look that bad where in a days time they can't break it up, drop dirt, stone or gravel to support the area and repave. Doesn't look too bad from the pic posted. With the money this state spends on road work, would think that would be an easy fix as opposed to closing down a very heavily traveled road with little or no alternate routes. Half the time I'm on that road there's a guy in a white truck, a state or park employee, who seems to be blowing leaves or sweeping the street on Old Mine Road. Never really quite understood what he's doing but if the state can pay for that guy they can certainly shell out some money to repair a much needed road......I would hope!

[Dave B.]

Originally Posted by dakota560

That entire stretch from the Gap north is pretty heavily traveled especially in the summer time. The road doesn't look that bad where in a days time they can't break it up, drop dirt, stone or gravel to support the area and repave. Doesn't look too bad from the pic posted. With the money this state spends on road work, would think that would be an easy fix as opposed to closing down a very heavily traveled road with little or no alternate routes. Half the time I'm on that road there's a guy in a white truck, a state or park employee, who seems to be blowing leaves or sweeping the street on Old Mine Road. Never really quite understood what he's doing but if the state can pay for that guy they can certainly shell out some money to repair a much needed road......I would hope!

For what it's worth, it's not state. It's federal land. Those white trucks are National Park Service. No state money involved. That aside I don't see anywhere in the article it saying they may close the road permanently. That section is fairly heavily traveled and is the only thoroughfare through the area.

[buzzbaiter]

https://goo.gl/maps/dvf5YVUkEYq

Its never really a smooth ride and there are hundreds of potholes you have to steer around. The rutted section between Millbrook and the BFB is a joke and has been for years. Its a short section yet they never pave it. They just warn you "rough road" and to slow down. I honestly think this is the reason: to slow cars down. Most of the road is posted @ 25-35 mph. There are also numerous compromised(from Hurricane Sandy) trees on steep slopes ready to fall on the road yet they do nothing to cut them down. Pretty sure all the maintenance guys do is empty some trash cans and pick up sticks. I've never seen a more mismanaged park in my life.

[Dave B.]

Originally Posted by buzzbaiter

https://goo.gl/maps/dvf5YVUkEYq

Its never really a smooth ride and there are hundreds of potholes you have to steer around. The rutted section between Millbrook and the BFB is a joke and has been for years. Its a short section yet they never pave it. They just warn you "rough road" and to slow down. I honestly think this is the reason: to slow cars down. Most of the road is posted @ 25-35 mph. There are also numerous compromised(from Hurricane Sandy) trees on steep slopes ready to fall on the road yet they do nothing to cut them down. Pretty sure all the maintenance guys do is empty some trash cans and pick up sticks. I've never seen a more mismanaged park in my life.

I couldn't agree more Mark! It seems incredible to me that on the one hand they tout sticking to the NPS national policy of 'allowing the land to return to a natural state and protecting that state of condition', hence them not allowing firewood collection, gathering plants, etc. Yet on the other side of the coin they've opened up formerly closed roads to four wheelers which then absolutely destroy the environment they travel through. That's not to say all off-roaders are bad or negligent, they're not. But as with fishing, hunting, etc it only takes a few J/O's to get an entire group labeled. Just in the Flatbrook valley I know of several small brooks that contain wild trout that have been very negatively impacted by 'off-roaders'. That's not even taking into account the idiots who've so badly rutted some old access lanes that the F&W staff can no longer get their small trucks into those spots to stock trout in spring or pheasants in fall, and they have no recourse to repair said lanes because it's federal land. Truly pitiful IMHO.

[Eskimo]

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I was just there Sunday. The section that I saw that was closed was the section of Old Mine just after it passes over the Flatbrook about a mile away from Blue Mountain Road. It opened up again at the intersection with NPS617.

There are probably other sections of road that are closed as you travel further North.

Road closings in the Delaware Water Gap are a good thing! With 5 million visitors a year, the park gets so over-crowded so only way to control the teeming hordes of pinickers and bucket-sitters is to close the damn roads.

I remember when one of the hurricanes washed out Blue Mountain Road and it took over a year for the NPS to repair the road. Anybody who wanted to go to the lakes had to walk at least a mile -uphill. It was fantastic!

The lake that is normally over-run with dickwad picknickers and their piles of trash was only visited by a few dedicated hikers and anglers. It was possibly to have the whole lake to yourself on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of summer.

The following summer they fixed the road and the caravans of jackoffs and bucket-sitters re-infested the area like a plague.

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