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A detour set to open Monday will restore some travel on Highway 140, more than three months after a major rockslide first closed the main route between Mariposa and Yosemite National Park.
The six-mile detour around the Ferguson slide will open Monday. For now, the California Department of Transportation will run a caravan-style detour once each direction in the early morning and at least once in each direction in the late evening.
Bob Boswell, an information officer for Caltrans District 10, said that during the rest of the day the road will be closed so that construction can continue.
"There is still work that needs to be done on the second bridge, what we call the upstream bridge," Boswell said. "Once that work is done, and the bridge opens, we can cut the detour down to just a half-mile, and we can run caravans through that detour all day."
News of the detour was welcomed by the Mariposa County Chamber of Commerce. Dorothy Kuhnel, executive director, said local businesses have been hit hard by the drop in traffic along Highway 140.
"Business has definitely slowed down," Kuhnel said. "Hotels, bed and breakfasts, restaurants — everyone has felt the pinch. We're hoping this helps, but we really are waiting for the permanent solution. We're waiting for the slide to be cleared and the road to be reopened."
Boswell said that may take some time. As of Thursday, he said, the rockslide was still moving.
"As long as it remains active you can't move the rocks," he said.
For now, pilot cars will lead the caravans through the detour area. Drivers wanting to go through the detour will have to be in line before each caravan departs. The westbound caravans will leave at 5:30 a.m. from the area east of El Portal at the Foresta Bridge.
The eastbound caravan will leave from a point five miles east of Briceburg at 6 a.m.
The evening caravans will meet at the same areas. The first westbound caravan will move at 6 p.m. Traffic flow will then alternate in both directions until the final westbound caravan leaves at 7:30 p.m.
The speed limit for travel in both directions will be 15 miles per hour. The California Highway Patrol will be on site to enforce construction work zone rules. Pedestrians, bicycles and any vehicles over 28 feet in length will not be allowed on the detour route.
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