Death Valley reopening route to Beatty, planning water system repairs

Greg Haas
·2 min read

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Death Valley National Park will reopen the Beatty Cutoff — the most popular road connecting the heart of the park with Beatty, Nevada — on Friday, according to an announcement on Thursday.

It’s the next step in the park’s recovery from devastating floods in August that wiped out roads throughout the park. The park reopened in mid-October, but many of the roads are still a work in progress. The popular Titus Canyon road is among the routes that remain closed.

Businesses in Beatty — a town of about 750 people — rely on travelers going to and from Death Valley, as well as traffic on U.S. 95 which is the main road connecting Las Vegas with Reno and Carson City. Roads that opened in late 2023 — Daylight Pass Road and the northern section of California SR-190 — allowed travel between Beatty and Furnace Creek, but reopening the cutoff will open a faster route for tourists and park employees.

The Beatty Cutoff, the road circled in blue in the image above, will reopen on Friday, Jan. 12.
The Beatty Cutoff, the road circled in blue in the image above, will reopen on Friday, Jan. 12.

Park officials also announced the Friday reopening of Mesquite Spring Campground, which is inside the park along Scotty’s Castle Road/North Highway.

Funding for the repairs came from the Federal Highway Administration using Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Roads. The National Park Service funded repairs for the water system at Mesquite Springs Campground.

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Earlier this month, the National Park Service announced plans to rehabilitate the water and wastewater systems in Furnace Creek and Cow Creek — the largest utility systems in the park.

“These systems have exceeded their lifespan in this extreme environment and are regularly breaking. NPS staff repaired Death Valley’s water systems 32 times in 2023 and 67 times in 2022. They repaired the park’s wastewater systems 12 times in 2023 and 15 times in 2022. Some of these failures released untreated sewage into the park,” according to a news release. Public comment on the plan is open through Feb. 22. For more details, and to make a comment, see the environmental assessment webpage.

Also, the park website reminded travelers that the road to Dantes View will close if there’s a risk of snow. And on Tuesday, Jan. 16, work on gas pumps at Stovepipe Wells will make fuel unavailable from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Stations in Furnace Creek and Panamint Springs will be available.

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