Work to rebuild Old Mine Road, the 250-year old route through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, is on schedule, with the road expected to reopen to the public in late August, according to an update from park officials.
Thought by some to be the oldest commercial highway in the U.S., Old Mine Road winds up the eastern side of the Delaware River from Interstate 80 to the northwestern corner of New Jersey. It's being repaired and resurfaced as part of an $11 million upgrade project. The road was closed in the spring at the border between the federal park and New Jersey's Worthington State Forest and on into historic Millbrook Village.
“This road project will modernize a vital piece of the park’s infrastructure and enhance safety and access while also protecting sensitive natural and cultural resources along its route and maintaining its historic integrity,” Superintendent Doyle Sapp said when the reconstruction was announced in the spring.
Old Mine Road is the only north-south highway through the recreation area and is busy for much of the year from its start near Exit 1 on I-80 in New Jersey. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with historic buildings along its path and also traverses the Minisink National Historic Landmark in the park.
Old Mine was traditionally thought to have been built by Dutch settlers to transport ore from mines on the western side of the Kittatinny Ridge to Poughkeepsie, New York, along the Hudson River, at a time when there was no road across the Delaware Water Gap. Originally, the road continued through to the Hudson.
But the National Park Service, on its website, acknowledges that Old Mine Road's origins are uncertain. "The popular story is that it is the road that was used to haul copper from the mines to port cities dozens of miles away, but there is no evidence of activity at the required scale. The more likely explanation is that old Lenape – and later, colonial – trails gradually widened with use. This provided clearer paths for people wanting to reach different locations."
Still, the route is "one of the oldest continually used roads in the United States," the Park Service says.
Once this section of Old Mine Road is rebuilt with new shoulders and culverts, a second phase is due to begin this fall. Expected to be finished next year, that stage will cover the northern end of the highway from markers 26.4 to 26.7 and markers 29.6 to 32.4.
The park said the project will extend the life of the road as well as save on the cost of patching potholes and other temporary repairs. The work will also correct steep drop-offs at the road's shoulders, providing more safety for travelers.
Last year, there were 4.2 million visits to the Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area, making it the 17th most-visited National Park property.
According to the NPS, funding comes from the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other sources and is part of an effort to cut the large maintenance and repair backlog in national parks. This road project is expected to eliminate approximately $9.7 million of the maintenance backlog in the Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area.
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