sentinel bridge and parking lot.

Somewhere I saw that Sentinel Bridge will be closed for road work starting this spring. Does anyone have any solid info on this and will it be closed this coming week? Also will the adjoining parking lot be closed this week too? And are they using those L.A. freeway K-rails in the Valley again now?

This is the notice that I have seen:

Transportation System Improvements in East Yosemite Valley

Visitors and employees should anticipate construction activity between mid-May 15 and mid-November 2023. Please drive carefully and watch for laborers and equipment in roadways. Project components include:

Installation of barricades, delineators, and signs to establish a one-way circulation pattern on the Valley Loop.
Modifications and removal of stop signs at four intersections to promote continuous vehicular traffic flow.
A temporary closure of Sentinel Drive for the construction of a continuous, raised center median.
Striping and construction of pedestrian pathways in parking areas for the Yosemite Valley Welcome Center and Village Store.
Changes to access driveways and within eastern parking areas at the Yosemite Valley Lodge, between the Humpback Bridge and Yosemite Falls crosswalk.
Safety improvements at six shuttle stops, including: two stops at Curry Village Orchard Parking; stops at the Upper Pines and Lower Pines Campgrounds on the Happy Isles Loop; stops at the Village Store and Degnan's Kitchen; and an extension of the existing Visitor Center stop to accommodate public transit buses.
The East Valley (Purple) shuttle route will be suspended during construction on Sentinel Drive. Nighttime construction is not permitted. Traffic delays of up to 15 minutes are authorized Tuesday thru Thursday, but are not anticipated. (J. Donovan)



Unfortunately, that traffic pattern will be a permanent one where the K rails will be replaced with raised medians. I hate this traffic pattern and have written to Superintendent Muldoon and never recieved a reply from her. I feel that there was not enough chances for public input during the pilot stage of the traffic pattern. I never saw a EIA or anything else that is the usual course when changes are made in the park. It is almost like they were trying to hide it from the public knowing that it would not be a popular solution, Even though the park is already starting the permanent changes, I still feel that those of us that hate it still write to the park and also our state representatives.

I just got back from the Valley. I was so glad to see that the experimental traffic patterns that they had last year were gone. It was so easy to get around the Valley and especially easy to get to and from the parking area at Sentinel Bridge for access to Clark's Meadow. I see that they are still not going to address the main reason for traffic back ups from Yosemite Lodge back to Stoneman Bridge. That problem is SOLELY caused by the uncontrolled pedestrians at the crosswalk between Yosemite Lodge and Yosemite Falls. I've observed that problem now for 5 decades. Occasionally there would be crossing guards there which really helped but most of the time there are none and people just step right out in front of the traffic, backing it up.

And while I was there you could once again drive both ways between Yosemite Village and Yosemite Lodge. And you could park once again along the road in front of the Yosemite Falls trail. It was beautiful again. No freeway K-rails. And when you left the Yosemite Lodge area you could go back to the Pines campgrounds and Camp Curry without going all the the way down west to El Cap crossover before heading east. Now once again you if you park in the day use parking lot across from camp 4 (which is what the traffic planners want you to do) in order to take a shuttle bus to the Falls trail you have to take the shuttle all the way down to the El Cap crossover, all the way back east to Camp Curry, switch shuttles to the one going west and after about an hour or more you'll arrive at the shuttle bus stop in front of the Yosemite Falls trail, which is about 1/2 mile from your parking spot. Sure you could walk but what about the elderly? That's a long walk for them, or a long ride on a shuttle to go 1/2 mile.

I've never in my 55 years of staying in the Valley witnessed traffic problems going East from Yosemite Lodge (even on holiday weekends). But you now won't be able to go east from there. And around and around the Valley you go... All I can figure out is they hired some company to do a "traffic study" but they never observed the problem in the afternoons when people are heading west out of the Valley and did not observe what the uncontrolled pedestrians do to that traffic.

Now I understand Sentinel Bridge will be closed for a while which will really screw thigs up.People leaving yosemite Village will now also have to go all the way down to El Cap before they can go back east. When they had the Krail up on Sentinel drive last year the only way you could turn into the Clark's Meadow parking lot was from the Southside drive direction. If you were going from Northside Drive (say from the Village area or from the east Valley areas) with the k rails you were no longer able to turn into that parking lot from Sentinel Drive. And since there was no more parking along the road in front of Yosemite Falls people were using the Clark's meadow parking lot as an alternative and last year it was constantly full. This week I had no problems parking there any time of the day like it has been for decades.The new traffic pattern and taking away of parking spots will ruin that. Also the road from the campgrounds to Stoneman Brdige was open again and parking was allowed along that road again. With the barriers being put back up that parking will be taken away again which will once again put more pressure on the Camp Curry lot..

After experiencing the new traffic patterns and K rails last year it was so refreshing being there this week with to the old road patterns.. Sorry if I'm rambling on here.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2023 07:09AM by mtn man.

Thanks!