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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Thursday, November 17, 2011 INCIDENTS Delaware Water Gap NRA Repairs To Storm-Damaged Roads Continue Flooding and saturated ground conditions from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee caused significant damage to roads throughout the park earlier this fall. A number of primary and secondary roads, including a 7.5-mile-long segment of U.S. Route 209 in Pennsylvania and parts of Old Mine Road and NPS 615 in New Jersey, remain closed pending repairs. The park is working closely with Federal Highways to complete repairs. Since October 21st, both lanes of Route 209 have been closed to traffic between Route 739 (near Dingmans Ferry) and Route 206 (near Milford). A landslide occurred at Milepost 15.3 which caused a section of the road surface to separate and settle approximately six inches; a section of the McDade Trail was also washed out. All traffic has been detoured onto local roads until permanent repairs can be designed and constructed. The permanent repairs to Route 209 will require extensive engineering and reconstruction. Federal Highways personnel have completed site surveys and are conducting soil investigations; the data collected will be employed to design the road reconstruction project. Construction work is expected to begin in the spring or early summer of 2012. Current projections indicate that the road won't reopen to through traffic until late summer or fall of 2012. In the meantime, planning actions are underway to reduce the closure from 7.5 miles to less than a mile, which will allow recreational users more access to park lands. In New Jersey, portions of NPS Route 615 and Old Mine Road were washed away by the flooding, making the roads impassable. They have been closed to through traffic since Hurricane Irene struck on August 27th. Because of the immediate need to restore traffic on these roads, emergency repairs are now underway and, weather permitting, are expected to be finished soon. For updated information about the status of the roadways, call 570-426-2492 for a recorded message, visit the park's website ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/dewa" www.nps.gov/dewa), or follow the park on Facebook ( HYPERLINK "http://www.facebook.com/DelWaterGapNPS" www.facebook.com/DelWaterGapNPS) or Twitter ( HYPERLINK "http://www.twitter.com/DelWaterGapNPS" www.twitter.com/DelWaterGapNPS). [Rich Degnan and Bill Leonard] OTHER NEWS The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/): Olympic NP - Park staff, volunteers and a Washington Conservation Corps crew planted about 2,300 native plants in the newly exposed sediments of upper Lake Mills last week. Another 28,000 will be planted over the course of the coming winter months. Land Resources Division - The NPS has released the first-ever accomplishments report for its Land Resources Program. The report showcases an array of partnership projects that illustrate the range, depth and complexity of the work of land resources staff across the country. Office of Communications - The NPS has awarded more than $1.4 million in grants to help with land acquisition at five Civil War Battlefields -- Gettysburg, Wilson's Creek, Bentonville, Cedar Creek, and Chancellorsville. National Capital Region/Northeast Region - National Capital and Northeast Regions have selected Marian Norris as both regions' new aquatic ecologist, a position which provides aquatic resource protection and conservation assistance. Norris began her new duties in mid-October. Grand Teton NP - Kevin Schneider has been selected to serve as deputy superintendent at Grand Teton National Park. He will assume his new duties in mid-December. * * * * The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced with the support of the Office of the Assistant Director for Information Resources and the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov). --- ### --- |