How do you drive across the
Imperial Sand Dunes, a 40 mile
stretch of shifting sands in
Southeast Californa in 1912?
"Colonel" Ed Fletcher hired a team of horses to pull his car through the sand during a 1912 road race.
Eric & I drive to Imperial
Sand Dunes Recreation
Area to find out how
drivers crossed these
sands.
This is a popular place to offroad
Eric will turn off the road
& drive to this spot.
He parks on a tiny section
A route was mapped out to connect Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California, including travel through these dunes. The construction of six and a half miles of wooden planks were laid on top of the sand near Gray's Well and the road opened in April 1915.
Heavy traffic quickly took its toll on the road. Prefabricated 12 sections of wood road were built and transported to replace the quickly deteriorating Plank Road.
The bone-jarring ride did
not deter travelers.
Sections of the road were
moved when drifting sands
covered the wooden road.
Engineers studied the Imperial Dunes throughout the early 1920s and determined that a permanent roadway could be built in this area. The new, permanent road, opened in 1926, further cutting the drive time from Phoenix to San Diego.
Though nostalgic, fewer people traveled The Plank Road and fell into disrepair. The Bureau
of Land Management maintains this remaining section. It has been designated a California Historical Landmark.
I'm glad the public has access to this unique bit of road construction history.
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