Rockslide causes full closure of highway into Yosemite National Park
A rockslide in Mariposa County has triggered the full closure of a bit of state Route 140, a preferred highway into Yosemite National Park.
At about 9 am Sunday, a particles slide measuring 100 cubic yards fell throughout each lanes of the highway close to the city of Incline, Caltrans spokesperson Anthony Presto confirmed to SFGATE by way of e mail. Following the slide, Route 140 was closed for 2 hours in each instructions from Bear Creek Bridge in Briceburg to Yosemite Cedar Lodge in El Portal whereas crews labored to take away the particles.
Caltrans reopened the highway on Sunday, however particles continued to fall.
“As a result, Caltrans and CHP took precautionary measures to ensure the safety of the traveling public, maintenance workers and first responders by reestablishing the full closure of SR-140 as of 7:00 pm on Sunday, April 12th with no estimated time of re-opening,” Presto stated.
The National Park Service printed an alert warning guests of the closure.
Currently, entry into Yosemite Valley via the Arch Rock Entrance alongside Route 140 — which travels via the unincorporated communities of Midpines, Briceburg, Incline and El Portal from Mariposa — is inconceivable. The drive from Mariposa to the next-closest park entrance, the South Entrance close to Oakhurst, is about an hour.
“Business is a lot slower,” Jordan, a employee at El Portal Market close to the park’s Arch Rock Entrance, instructed SFGATE over the telephone. “Later on, people will start coming down from the hotels, but right now it’s slow. You just have to make a Plan B and live your life.”
Slopes alongside state Route 140 within the Merced River Canyon are famously unstablemade of shifting rock lots that trigger frequent particles slides within the space. In March of final 12 months, a slide closed Route 140 between Briceburg and El Portal and despatched close by companies into a droop.
Caltrans geotechnical and highway operations workers might want to assess the situation of the highway and the slope above it earlier than Route 140 can reopen, Presto stated.
