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The half-mile detour around Highway 140 in the Merced River Canyon shows off nature's majesty — and its muscle:
Below, the now-placid river and stones polished smooth from rushing water. Across the channel, the sawed-off face of the Ferguson rockslide — a creeping giant that will haunt this small tourism-based county for the next few years.
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With the rockslide in the background, a vehicle moves along the single-lane detour around Highway 140 above the Merced River. Craig Kohlruss / The Fresno Bee |
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Falling rock, dirt and elephant-sized boulders last spring shut down a piece of Highway 140, the "all-weather" artery into Yosemite National Park. Tourists, park employees, schoolchildren and many more scrambled for months to get from here to there in commutes often lengthened by an hour or more.
In August, the California Department of Transportation opened a one-lane, two-bridge detour controlled on either end of the slide by stoplights. Now — even as local folks express gratitude over the temporary detour — state, federal and local agencies are grappling with the next question: What is the permanent fix for Highway 140?
Authorities are just starting to explore ideas such as a tunnel bypass, permanent bridges or a fortified "shed" over the highway. But even under the best-case scenario, the final solution could take two to three years to design and construct, and cost $100 million or more.
That leaves many in this county of about 18,000 people wondering how to weather any accompanying economic slump and the potential of fresh trouble from the slide itself. Some worry more falling rock could dam the river, spawn flooding and damage and close the detour — again cutting off a key thoroughfare from Mariposa into Yosemite.
"One of the real concerns is that nobody can predict what the mountain is ultimately going to do," said Lee Stetson, chairman of the county's Board of Supervisors.
Board members listened intently Tuesday as Caltrans representatives briefly laid out possible options, time frames and the environmental process. Caltrans is assembling a multi-agency team that will brainstorm and analyze possible alternatives for permanently reopening that section of Highway 140.
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Geographical radar monitoring equipment continuously surveys the site of the Ferguson rockslide to record changes and determine stability. Craig Kohlruss / The Fresno Bee |
The team will look for cost-effective and practical options to present for public review as part of a required environmental study.
"We want to get around or through the slide," said Kome Ajise, Caltrans director for the district that includes Mariposa County. "How do we do that?"
Ajise said officials will try to shorten the project. A typical process through final design could take up to three years.
"How we compress the time frame will be the challenge," Ajise said.
For the community, the immediate challenge is living with the fickle rockslide between Mariposa and El Portal that began moving after centuries of relative dormancy.
Highway 140 is the main street through Mariposa, which relies heavily on the generosity of visitors to fuel its economy. The town is rimmed with gift shops, restaurants and lodges aimed at tourist traffic heading into Yosemite.
With the highway blocked or in limited operation for parts of the spring and summer, residents and tourists took other routes to Yosemite or around the slide. Caltrans has spent about $6 million so far, first installing a rock-catching fence — quickly flattened by boulders — followed by interim detours and now the bypass.
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Dust rises up from movement Thursday along the slope of the Ferguson rockslide in the Merced River Canyon where Caltrans has built a half-mile detour to get traffic moving between Mariposa and Yosemite. Craig Kohlruss / The Fresno Bee |
Controlled by urban-style streetlights, the detour herds cars across temporary bridges spanning the Merced River. A sign warns drivers the wait could be up to 15 minutes as cars — first from one side, and then the other — move through.
Vehicles longer than 28 feet are banned from the around-the-clock bypass, which features roughly 90-degree turns. That means traditional tour buses and passenger buses, such as those operated by Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System, are too big for the Highway 140 run.
Dick Whittington, transit manager for the system, said he is continuing to add smaller buses to the fleet. At best, those have half the capacity of the bigger 50-seat coaches.
With Labor Day considered the traditional end to the heavy tourist season, Mariposa County officials and merchants are just now figuring out the slide's economic impact.
The news isn't all bad. County officials say the bed tax — levied on hotel guests — actually brought in more money the fiscal year that ended June 30 than the previous year, despite a few months of the highway closure.
Mike Coffield, county budget and personnel manager, said higher room rates may have offset losses from empty rooms: "We didn't see the substantial reduction that we expected."
Merchants also haven't shown much interest in low-interest disaster loans offered by the federal government. At the end of August, the Small Business Administration in Sacramento reported approving and funding five loans for about $330,100. Five other applications were in process.
Miriam Costello, owner of the gift shop Miriam's Place, said the summer was difficult but that businesses have weathered prior slumps. She said the town was busy during Labor Day weekend, although many visitors were browsers rather than buyers.
"The streets were swamped with people," she said. "It looked like Fifth Avenue in New York."
Leroy Radanovich, interim tourism coordinator at the Mariposa County Visitor Center, said some businesses reported up to a 20% drop in sales over the summer season. Others say they've had a good summer.
Some merchants are playing off the rockslide, selling T-shirts that say "Don't take it for granite" and offering "landslide" sales. Radanovich said the rockslide has been an attraction for some tourists.
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| Dana Lawless works in Miriam's Place in downtown Mariposa, where a T-shirt, capitalizing on the nearby rockslide, reads "Don't take it for granite." Craig Kohlruss / The Fresno Bee |
But one worry is what the rockslide will do during the next few rainy seasons and winters. Ajise said the slide's movement has slowed and Caltrans, along with other agencies, constantly monitors the area with equipment and employees.
At Yosemite National Park, where the number of visitors was at least steady this summer, Highway 140 is considered an important route. Because it is the lowest elevation entry into the park, Highway 140 often is easily passable while other highways are white with snow.
"Our philosophy is the road is open," said park spokesman Scott Gediman. "But it's still a dynamic situation."
Geologist reports on the rockslide acknowledge a wet winter or seismic activity could jar the slide into major action. Any catastrophic failure — though considered to be a low probability — could block the Merced River and damage the detour.
Authorities say there is little they can do beyond closely monitoring the slide, continuing to study it and reacting quickly to any new problems.
That's not too reassuring for residents like Harvey Holland, a real estate agent who lives with his wife, Jo Ann Belforte, in a house roughly a half-mile from the slide on the south fork of the Merced River.
Holland said he's concerned about the prospect of flooding and community safety, especially if the detour closes and residents are forced to take more treacherous routes to work, the park or other destinations.
"It's not going to take a whole lot of erosion to bring down some of those rocks," he said.
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