A local historical treasure perhaps forgotten by many is slated to be restored as a feature attraction for bicycling in the Moab area. The original state highway that ran along the present boundary of Arches National Park up Moab Canyon is scheduled for reconstruction as a bike path, according to Grand County Engineer Mark Wright.

When the new bike path and its extension to Lions Park are completed, bikers will be able to ride from the Colorado River to state Route 313 without encountering highway traffic, Wright said. The path will be separate from U.S. 191. Strategically placed underpasses will allow bicyclists to cross underneath the highway, he said.

Nearly all the funds needed for the work have been raised and design work is currently underway. But delays caused by the need to work with many land management agencies have set the beginning of construction back to next summer, according to Kim Schappert, director of the Moab Trails Alliance, a local non-profit bicycling group.

As with the restoration of Lions Park and construction of bike paths along the Colorado River road, this project is ultimately the responsibility of Grand County, but the funds are all coming from federal grants, along with matching money raised through private donations and other grants, Wright said.

“Nothing comes from the Grand County taxpayer except for the portion of Mark Wright’s salary that covers his time on the project,” Schappert said.

The old roadbed and most of the bridges and culverts that carry storm run-off beneath it are in remarkably good condition. The roadbed remains sturdy in most places. Even where the road is high above a canyon it is well shored up, according to Wright.

In two areas, the roadbed is starting to slip away due to debris that filled a drainage ditch on the other side of the roadway. Part of the restoration will be to put that ditch back in service so water will no longer run across the road, Wright said.

In the early 1960s, when what is now U.S. 191 was opened, the old highway was still in such good condition that the Sports Car Club of America/Utah Region sponsored hill climb races for sports cars on the road. Although he was racing elsewhere at the time, sports car enthusiast Brint Brown said he remembers the old highway well.

A close friend and his father were in one of the races when the father drove an open-wheel race car off the edge of Deadman’s Curve. His car wedged against a boulder near the top, so he suffered only a minor break in his back, Brown said.

Evidence that much of the old road was hand-crafted without the use of huge machines is found in the bridges and culverts that divert flood waters underneath. The Civilian Conservation Corps built one such culvert in the 1930s. That culvert is about 7 feet high and 5 or 6 feet wide. Its floor and sides are made entirely of blocks of sandstone found at the site and shaped by craftsmen who cemented them in place. A concrete slab was poured to make a cover for the culvert and a base for the road, Wright said.

A small hole that has opened up near the entrance of the culvert will be restored to original conditions by a skilled mason using materials at the site, Wright said.

Much of the task to create a suitable 10-foot wide bike path will consist of roto-milling the old black top and putting a chip seal on that. A few places where portions of the roadbed have been washed away will have to be reconstructed, Wright said.

The current cost estimate of the project is $1.6 million. Eighty percent of that will be paid with funds from the Federal Highway Administration. A grant for $200,000 to help cover the required match has been received from Utah’s State Trails and Pathways Program, Wright said.

That leaves a gap of $125,000 that must be raised for the match. Some of that money may be already covered, and Schappert expressed confidence that the balance can be raised.

The cost is so high because the project involves the use of expensive heavy equipment to meet the construction standards imposed by the federal funding agencies, Wright said. He explained that roads — and paths — no longer can be built by craftsmen because it takes so many of them that the cost would rise exponentially.

On the other hand, Schappert laments that if the job were being done using local money rather than federal grants the cost would be much lower.

“We could do it cheaper if we could raise our own money,” she said. “We could design it however we wanted and do it however we like.”