Plank Road. Photo date: 3-12-05.
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The Plank Road was once the only way to drive a vehicle across the Imperial Dunes between San Diego and Yuma. The alternative was a long detour around the dunes. The original Plank Road was made of two parallel strips of wood spaced the width or most auto tires. Later the Plank Road was rebuilt with planks perpendicular to the direction of travel and a little wider. This was easier to drive. The road was only one lane wide, but provided turnouts spaced along the road. Eventually technology allowed an asphalt road and the Plant Road faded into history. This reproduction of the two types of road remind us of the days when we couldn't drive Interstate 8 at 65 miles and hour.
The first of 13,000 planks were laid on February 14, 1915. This first road consisted of two parallel rows of planks 25 inches wide each. Construction of the road was completed on April 4, 1915. "Colonel" Ed Fletcher was the primary promoter of the road. The Highway Commission built a new Plank Road in 1916, this time of wooden cross ties laid to a width of 8 feet with double-width turnouts every-1,000 feet. The road was made up of 8' wide by 12' long sections, weighing 1500 lbs. each and held in place by iron bars bolted to the ties. Shifting sands made a difficult job of keeping the roadway clear and it was impassable about a third fo the time. As it was a single lane, traffic jams were common when one car would not yield and back up to a turn out. A new asphaltic concrete surface road, 20 feet wide, officially opened on August 12, 1926.
Buttercup Valley Off Highway Vehicle Area, Plank Road, and Imperial Dunes is located near the south east corner of California, off Interstate Highway 8, about 15 minutes east of Yuma, Arizona. The dunes are seven miles wide and over 50 miles long. Exit I-8 at the Gray's Well ansd travel west about three miles. A Plank Road monument and interpretive display lie approximately three miles west of the Sand Hills interchange.
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