Yosemite rockslide closure
Highway 140 between Bear Creek Bridge and Cedar Lodge is closed after multiple rockslides, forcing travelers to reroute around the west entrance to Yosemite Valley. (el-balad.com) Weekend storms also dropped rain and snow across Sonora, Pinecrest and Yosemite Valley and brought cooler temperatures to the Central Sierra. (uniondemocrat.com)
A rockslide shut a key Yosemite approach road for two days this week, then reopened it with one-way traffic control and delays. (dot.ca.gov) (yourcentralvalley.com) Caltrans said about 100 cubic yards of debris came down across both lanes of State Route 140 near Incline in Mariposa County at about 9 a.m. on Sunday, April 12. Crews first reopened the road at noon that day, then closed it again at 7 p.m. after more slope movement and falling debris. (dot.ca.gov) The closure points were Bear Creek Bridge in Briceburg on the west side and Yosemite Cedar Lodge in Incline on the east side. Caltrans told drivers to use State Route 41 or State Route 120 instead while geotechnical and highway operations staff assessed the slope. (dot.ca.gov) By Monday afternoon, April 14, Caltrans said the highway would reopen at 3 p.m. Local reports on Tuesday said the Arch Rock approach was accessible again, with about 10-minute delays while crews finished clearing the slide area. (mymotherlode.com) (yourcentralvalley.com) That matters because State Route 140 is the all-weather western route into Yosemite Valley through the Arch Rock Entrance. In mid-April, Tioga Road, Glacier Point Road and Mariposa Grove Road were still closed for the season because of snow, leaving fewer options for visitors and local traffic. (nps.gov) The slide came after a stormy weekend in the central Sierra. The National Weather Service office in Hanford had a Winter Storm Warning in effect through late Sunday for the Sierra above 7,000 feet, with 10 to 24 inches of snow possible and wind gusts up to 55 miles per hour. (forecast.weather.gov) (mesonet.agron.iastate.edu) The Union Democrat reported the same storm system brought rain and snow from Friday through Sunday to Sonora, Pinecrest and Yosemite Valley, along with cooler temperatures across the central Sierra. That mix of wet ground, snow at higher elevations and falling rock added another travel problem at the start of Yosemite’s spring visitor season. (uniondemocrat.com) (nps.gov) Caltrans said it had notified Yosemite National Park, the Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System, law enforcement, fire agencies and local officials about the closure. For now, the road is open again, but the slide zone is still being managed as an active hazard area rather than a routine traffic backup. (dot.ca.gov) (yourcentralvalley.com)
