Re: Yosemite National Park Announces Rehabilitation Plans for the Tioga Road

Yosemite National Park Announces Rehabilitation Plans for the Tioga Road - news release
Scott Gediman 209-372-0248
Kari Cobb 209-372-0529

Yosemite National Park signs the Tioga Road Rehabilitation Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). The FONSI records the decision of the National Park Service to rehabilitate, restore and resurface approximately 41 miles of the Tioga Road. The Tioga Road, bounded on both sides by State Highway 120, and open seasonally, is a popular east-west crossing of the Sierra Nevada. The Selected Action focuses on improving the safety of visitors and employees traveling on Tioga Road, maintaining the character of the road corridor, and restoring drainage features to control erosion. Additionally, roadside turnouts will be redesigned which will help manage roadside parking and traffic flow. The rehabilitation will also help reduce rockfall potential along the Tioga Road by scaling rock at select locations. The Selected Action also calls for improvements at the parking area of the Tuolumne Grove.

A public scoping period for the Tioga Road Rehabilitation Plan occurred from February 4, 2010 through March 5, 2010. Work is anticipated to begin in Spring 2014 and will occur in three phases as funding is available. Each phase will occur over a two year period due to the seasonal closure of the Tioga Road. The Environmental Assessment (EA) was released for public review on August 8, 2011, and comments were accepted through September 8, 2011. The park received 12 public comment letters. All comments were reviewed by park staff and were considered in the development of the FONSI and errata sheets. Requests for hardcopies of the FONSI, can be submitted to: Superintendent, Yosemite National Park, Attn: Tioga Road Rehabilitation Plan, P.O. Box 577, Yosemite, CA 95389; or fax (209) 379-1294; or email yose_planning@nps.gov. The FONSI, EA, and errata sheets are available online at: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/tiogaroad.

What a great idea! Now we will be able to bike through Aspen Valley to White Wolf, Yosemite Creek Campground, Porcupine Flat, May Lake, and on to Tenaya Lake.

Oh, wait. They don't mean Tioga Road. They mean the new Tioga Pass Road. The one that's overrun with cars full of tourists. Too bad. The abandoned old road is much more interesting...

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wherever

Oh, wait. They don't mean Tioga Road. They mean the new Tioga Pass Road. The one that's overrun with cars full of tourists. Too bad. The abandoned old road is much more interesting...

No, they mean the new Tioga Road.

Officially, Hwy 120 from Crane Flat to Tioga Pass is called Tioga Road. From Tioga Pass to U.S. 395, Hwy 120 is called Tioga Pass Road.

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I have to drive that road two or three times a week. I just hope they do all the work at night. That would really mess up my day.

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Dave
I have to drive that road two or three times a week. I just hope they do all the work at night. That would really mess up my day.

That didn't happen with Wawona Road.

A few years ago a lot of the rehabbing was done during the day. I would often get stuck in 2 or 3 traffic stops in one direction. The recent repaving appears to have been done mostly at night. What I would do with the Tioga Road is do the higher elevation sections in the Summer, and the lower parts after those higher parts are closed for the winter. They'll have the whole road to themselves with no traffic to worry about.