Ridgecrest CA to Death Valley

They have been working on the road. It was washed out in several places. In one section the is a 6' drop off. They have a lot of equipment and and people working on it, but as noted they are not a high dollar county. They have to completely rebuild the road bed. It's all from a major gully washer last summer. We were able to use the road by permit from the county for an event in mid November, so I was able to see the damage. It is possible to get around the major washout by using Nadeau rd to Slate Range rd. Nadeau is sort of paved, but Slate Range is sand washboard. However the Panamint Valley Rd is closed and you can be cited for using it. The road is blocked with a 5' berm at the turn off to Ballarat. It is blocked at 190 with barricades.

As to when it will open is anybodies guess. The county says spring of 14. Perhaps it will open sooner. Check the daily report link and they will post the opening of the road.