YOSEMITE – Yosemite National Park is initiating one transportation project and concluding two others that are intended to improve parking, road conditions, and traffic flow in the park.
The projects will provide additional parking in Yosemite Valley, improve restrooms and reorganize the Tuolumne Grove parking area, and repair and maintain portions of the Tioga Road, say Park officials, and are slated to be completed by Memorial Day 2015.
Improvements to the parking area at Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias began in September 2014. Currently, the grove, trail and parking lot are open to the public. The project entails improvements to the restrooms, new interpretive signs, a designated bus drop-off location, an improved picnic area and better organized parking.
In June of 2014, the Park began a multi-phased maintenance project to repair the Tioga Road corridor, the Park’s east-to-west highway that connects Groveland and Lee Vining. The primary rehabilitation work involved a 15-mile segment from the Crane Flat intersection to just east of the White Wolf Campground. The construction work includes improvements to culverts, grading, pavement resurfacing, new signage and road striping.
The project is scheduled to conclude in November 2015. Delays will be possible each week, 24 hours per day, beginning Sunday at 11 p.m. through Friday at 4:30 pm. All campgrounds and other services along the Tioga Road will be accessible.
Delays Sunday night through Friday afternoon on Tioga Road project:
11 p.m. to 6 a.m. – 1 hour
6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. – 15 minutes
7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. – 30 minutes
3:30 p.m. to 4:30 pm –15 minutes
4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. – 30 minutes
This month, the Park will begin the first phase of improvements to the Yosemite Lodge parking area in Yosemite Valley. The completed project will include an expanded parking area just west of Yosemite Lodge. The additional spaces will help to improve traffic flow in Yosemite Valley by parking vehicles west of Lower Yosemite Falls. A future phase will include the installation of permanent bathroom facilities.
For more information on construction projects in Yosemite National Park, please visit http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/roadwork.htm.
