Caltrans announces the opening date for road, which was closed by huge rock slide

The crews have made considerable progress to eliminate a large rock slide that closed one of the main routes in the Yosemite National Park last week and reduces the fears of long-term disorder, as well as warmer weather increases the number of visitors to the park.

Hundreds of tons of rocks crashed on both alleys of the State Highway 140 on the night of March 17, a landscape wrap route along the Merced River between the city of Mariposa and the entrance to Yosemit’s Arch Rock.

Now at least one trace of the highway – one of the two main routes to Yosemite for most North Californians – is expected to be expected by the end of this week, said Brian Hooker, a spokesman for Caltrans.

“The crews work 24-7,” he said. “They make good progress.”

The film closed in both directions between Yosemite Cedar Lodge and Briceburg, 10 miles west of El Portal, about two miles from Autobahn 140.

On Thursday, Caltrans geologists examined the area and flew drones to absorb 3D images of the steep cliffs above the street. They tried to find loose boulders and other material that could still collapse on the street.

With these information, the crews of a special company, Neil’s controlled blowing in Placer County, used an aerial feature to move the workers on the sheer cliffs on Friday and Saturday. Some workers roped on the cliff with ropes.

They assembled large industrial pillows, such as airbags on a car, behind the hanging loose rocks, and blow them up with compressors, said Hooker, which caused unstable geology to fall on the street below.

“For safety reasons, they had to remove these materials before we had the main customer work on the rubble on the street,” he said.

On Sunday, Teichert Construction, based in Sacramento, truck, front loader and other devices, began to use the main stack, which blocks both lanes. This work should take several days, said Hooker.

“The road has damage,” he added. “Repairs are needed before we can bring the traveling public back there. But things move at a good pace.”

Until the street is open, the residents of the Bay Area have a main street in the park – the Highway 120 through Groveland. A longer path from the south is also possible on the highway 41 to Oakhurst.

For daily updates, visitors should check the Caltrans site before going to the park: quickmap.dot.ca.gov.

According to Hooker, engineers believe that the last weeks of the cold weather that the snow mirrors had dropped as normal frozen water that had accumulated in cracks on the cliffs. This ice expanded and caused the rock slide, he said.

Local tourism leaders and residents of the Mariposa district were happy that the big slide will not close the road for weeks or months, as some in the past.