Floor of the Valley Road

Page 7

NFS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 7 Page 2 Washington County, UT Zion National Park MRA to a "T" shaped intersection. While the road does not retain its historic appearance at that particular location, this minor change does not erode the overall integrity of the road. The remaining portion of the Floor of the Valley Road, and the majority of its associated features, retain a high degree of integrity. The road width has increased by four to eight feet, depending on the section. Otherwise, the road still appears much as it did when constructed. There have been minor modifications made, consisting mostly of routine maintenance (such as resurfacing and culvert repair or replacement in kind), but these have not impacted the road's original design and appearance. The road has been carefully maintained to preserve its historic character, and strongly conveys the NFS design ethic of the 1930s. Descriptions of contributing and noncontributing road resources are described below. CONTRIBUTING RESOURCES Resources which contribute to the Floor of the Valley Road include the road itself, three retaining walls, and five parking areas, as well as culverts and drop inlets. The total number of contributing resources is nine. (Due to their small size, the culverts and drop inlets are not "counted" under Item 5, Classification, as per National Register staff instruction.) Culverts and Drop Inlets There are forty-five culverts and drop inlets along the road which are either original structures or replacements patterned after the original design guidelines to minimize visual impact. These consist of stone headwalls, spillways and catchment basins which feed into either a corrugated metal pipe or concrete box culvert. The headwalls are constructed of random-laid ashlar stone with cement mortar pointing. The dimensions for the headwalls from top to bottom vary from less than a foot to over 15 feet. The widths from side to side vary from 3 feet wide to over 15 feet. The rock wall portions are about 6 to 8 inches thick. Some of these have a metal grate over the up slope side of the road to prevent clogging by large rocks. Retaining Walls There are three retaining walls along the road, located between the entrance and Zion Lodge, constructed in random laid ashlar stone with cement mortar pointing. Dimensions for the walls from top to bottom vary from 5 feet to over 25 feet high. The width varies, end to end, from 50 to 150 feet. The stone is usually about 18 inches thick. Maintenance and repairs to the walls have been done sympathetically and have not resulted in a loss of integrity.