Re: Hwy 140, The Ferguson Project: What is status?

Below are photos I took leaving YNP on Apr. 2018 and Apr. 2019 of the slide on Hwy 140. It appears nothing has been done over the course of the year. Does anyone know the status of the project? I did a little Googling of it but didn't find anything...except it was being held up a couple of years ago because of a salamander.

Thx

Going off topic a bit...

I don't know anything about the status of the road, but last year when we were driving there, we saw a sign about a "Geological Exhibit". We didn't find the exhibit, but thought perhaps Caltrans had a sense of humour, and the landslide was the exhibit. Anyway, I wrote Garry Hayes who writes the geology blog, and asked him about, and another item along 140. His response in blue.

1. We were driving on CA 140 on Sunday and shortly before the bridge near the Ferguson landslide area saw a sign saying "geological exhibit". We looked for more signs after the bridge to go see this exhibit but did not see any. Is the Ferguson landslide the "geological exhibit"?
The "geological exhibit" is a wooden sign at the pullout about 200 yards downstream of the traffic light and is not about the Ferguson Slide, but is instead a sign pointing out the metamorphic rocks along the river. Here is a picture of the sign. It was damaged in the recent fire.
( I don't know how to attach photos, without hosting them somewhere )

2. I noticed the CORS station (P305) along highway 140. It’s in the middle of nowhere it seems. Do you by any chance know more about P305 and the reason that site was selected?
I'm afraid I can't offer much knowledge about the CORS station. The location is on the solid bedrock of the foothills which tells me it is more of a stable reference point between the faults east of the Sierra, and the faults of the Coast Ranges. The Sierra structural block is considered a "micro-plate" that is between the Pacific and North American plates.

I've seen that sign - says something about those rocks being the oldest rocks in the Yosemite area. Would have missed it completely had we not been backed up, not moving, in traffic heading toward the park.

Here's my pix of the sign...

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I asked Zinke but he didn't know anything about it.

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Right...

Maybe try poking around here if you want to waste some time:


http://www.dot.ca.gov/serp.html?q=project%20140%20ferguson

http://www.dot.ca.gov/d10/x-project-sr140ferguson.html

I don't recall seeing any movement last year at all.

Earlier this year "they" were unloading a backhoe.... so... was there anything even there?
They removed the temp housing / stuff on the north side of the river year or
year before. Maybe it will happen... I have doubt.

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I wrote CalTrans a little over a year ago to inquire as to the status of the slide repair. There is supposed to be a shed over 140 when repairs are completed. CalTrans said construction was to begin 2 years ago but have delayed it because the area is still too unstable. They couldn't predict when construction would start.

Quote
chick-on
Right...

Maybe try poking around here if you want to waste some time:


http://www.dot.ca.gov/serp.html?q=project%20140%20ferguson

http://www.dot.ca.gov/d10/x-project-sr140ferguson.html

I don't recall seeing any movement last year at all.

Earlier this year "they" were unloading a backhoe.... so... was there anything even there?
They removed the temp housing / stuff on the north side of the river year or
year before. Maybe it will happen... I have doubt.

OK chick-on, I think you hit the nail on the head with this info. I was able to follow some links to a current project status report for District 10 and found the status of the project: Ferguson Slide Rock Shed Construction. Below is a link to a screen capture I made of the portion of the report pertaining to this project (go to the bottom where it has Project Comments). From what I can figure out it at least appears that the project is indeed still on-going despite what we see (or don't see) at the slide site.

Link

Why not just build a bridge over the Merced River and stay away from that unstable part. There are already two temporary(?) bridges that get you across the river. Just a thought.

Through 2013 or so, Caltrans was discussing two options for dealing with the slide: the rockshed (now under construction, sort of) versus the (much more expensive) tunnel. Here's a document that compares the two, along with the "what if we did nothing?" option. Salamanders are mentioned in passing, btw.

Ferguson Slide Permanent Restoration Project (January, 2014)

By spring of 2015 the rockshed option had been selected, a steel net had been draped over the slope to help contain individual falling rocks, and a fleet of dump trucks was hauling away slide debris to prepare the site.

Caltrans alters project that will restore road to Yosemite (May, 2015)

About as soon as the area had been cleared, work appeared to stop. Word on the street was that the engineers hadn't found bedrock where they expected it, so they'd have to come up with a new plan for anchoring the rockshed in place. I haven't been able to find anything online to confirm or disconfirm that. In late 2015 there were a couple of small slides that took down most of the steel netting. I remember seeing a few stories that blamed the new slides for the work stoppage, but work had actually stopped months earlier.

Later, maybe in 2017 or 2018, I noticed the big concrete blocks with the machine gun barrels (probably not really) sticking out. I didn't happen to go through the area to see those being built. I'm guessing they're test bores, or anchors, or tests of what kind of anchors won't work. As calberry says, not much has changed in the last year or two. I do occasionally see workers and equipment, but mostly near the north gate. I have no idea what they're doing, and can only hope they know.