NPS and BPR Collaboration on Approach Roads

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Thomson welcomed the assistance from officials with the Bureau of Public Roads, whose presence as official partners at the park became official in January 1926. The NPS finally secured appropriations in 1925 for improving both the Medford and Fort Klamath roads, both of which had begun to suffer in comparison with the surfaced state highways that connected the park with nearby communities. Contractors under NPS supervision made minor realignments along the Medford Road, mainly to reduce grades and curvature. They also replaced two log bridges with fills and tried to provide a dustless pavement over a portion of the road. Similar measures were taken on the Klamath side of the road approach to Annie Spring, but the surface failed under the stress of traffic. BPR engineers subsequently helped the NPS find a satisfactory macadam surface, one where an application of light road oil on the base of surfacing material greatly reduced dust.