SR 41 reopening delayed
Courtesy of Caltrans
Repair work continues on State Route 41, south of Yosemite National Park.
The scheduled date to reopen State Route 41 in Fish Camp, just south of Yosemite National Park, has been changed to March 15, Caltrans spokesman Cory Burkarth said.
The goal is to have at least one lane open to one-way traffic controls by March 15, said Burkarth. Winter weather cost contractor crews four days of work, Burkarth said, alongside equipment failure, which delayed the project another day.
Both lanes of SR 41 remain fully closed north of Tenaya Lodge, with all traffic to Yosemite diverted along SR 49 to SR 140 in Mariposa. SR 140 also remains the only route into Yosemite Valley, park officials said, as other roadways have been severely damaged by winter storms.
An aging culvert built in the 1920s was blocked by debris during ongoing storms, Burkarth said, causing a hole to rip open on the southbound side of SR 41 Feb. 9. Crews had trouble getting into the hole to repair it, as winter weather remained overhead. Those storms also worsened the damage, causing the sinkhole to stretch into the center of the highway and force its complete closure Feb. 21.
That old culvert, 36 inches in diameter, has been successfully replaced by a new 72-inch culvert, Burkarth said, but work remains at the Fish Camp site.
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