Project overview: Assess improvements for traffic and parking access to Glacier Point, including visitor vehicle parking areas at Badger Pass and consideration of public transportation options.

How your support helps: Between 2013 and 2018, Yosemite rangers and Yosemite Hospitality operated a free shuttle service between Badger Pass and Glacier Point. The Glacier Point parking area is limited to fewer than 200 parking spaces, which fill to capacity early in the day. Glacier Point and several roadside parking areas are also wilderness trailheads.

Glacier Point Road will be closed for rehabilitation in 2022. Public access will resume in 2023, with one-way traffic controls and construction delays. When the road is fully re-opened in spring 2024, the travel lanes will be widened, and improvements will be made to parking areas at Sentinel Dome, McGurk Meadow, and other sites. This could give the NPS an ability to manage the roadway by developing a shuttle service from Badger Pass for those arriving later than 10:00 a.m., while accommodating access by private vehicle for early morning arrivals, disabled people, and backpackers with wilderness permits.

With your support, park managers can assess the needs of each shuttle stop on this route, such as defining a stopping zone, and the potential for a bus turnout, shelters, and other anticipated improvements for passenger waiting areas. Additionally, project managers will consider an introduction of public transportation service from Yosemite Valley to Glacier Point to reduce the number of visitor vehicles making that same trip, as well as a public shuttle service extension to the Glacier Point-Wawona Road intersection at Chinquapin to serve passengers arriving on YARTS buses.

This year: Glacier Point and roadside trailheads are frequently overwhelmed by visitor vehicles between opening day and Labor Day. In 2022, your gifts will fund a feasibility study for potential facility improvements and operational costs to optimize future roadway and public access projects, and also assess the possibility of providing public transportation to Glacier Point from Yosemite Village.

Project partner: Yosemite National Park

Jim Donovan

Strategic Planning, Yosemite National Park

Project Notes

"Glacier Point and roadside trailheads are frequently overwhelmed by visitor vehicles between opening day and Labor Day. A full assessment of potential facility improvements and operational costs is required before the National Park Service can determine how the roadway and public access should be managed in the future."