Highway through Yosemite National Park gateway towns reopens after rockslide

LATEST April 15, 10 a.m. The California Highway Patrol has reopened state Route 140 between Briceburg and El Portal, which was closed Sunday following a rock slide, the agency's Oakhurst office announced Tuesday evening. One-way traffic controls are in effect, and drivers are advised to prepare for delays.

April 13, 4 p.m. A rockslide in Mariposa County has triggered the full closure of a section of state Route 140, a popular highway into Yosemite National Park.

At about 9 a.m. Sunday, a debris slide measuring 100 cubic yards fell across both lanes of the highway near the town of Incline, Caltrans spokesperson Anthony Presto confirmed to SFGATE via email. Following the slide, Route 140 was closed for two hours in both directions from Bear Creek Bridge in Briceburg to Yosemite Cedar Lodge in El Portal while crews worked to remove the debris.

Caltrans reopened the highway at noon Sunday, but debris continued to fall.

"As a result, Caltrans and CHP took precautionary measures to ensure the safety of the traveling public, maintenance workers and first responders by reestablishing the full closure of SR-140 as of 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 12th with no estimated time of re-opening," Presto said.

The National Park Service published an alert advising visitors of the closure.

Currently, entry into Yosemite Valley through the Arch Rock Entrance along Route 140 - which travels through the unincorporated communities of Midpines, Briceburg, Incline and El Portal from Mariposa - is limited to those located east of the slide. The drive from Mariposa to the next-closest park entrance, the South Entrance near Oakhurst, is about an hour.

"Business is a lot slower," Jordan, a worker at El Portal Market near the park's Arch Rock Entrance, told SFGATE over the phone. "Later on, people will start coming down from the hotels, but right now it's slow. You just have to make a Plan B and live your life."

Slopes along state Route 140 in the Merced River Canyon are famously unstable, made of shifting rock masses that cause frequent debris slides in the area. In March of last year, a slide closed Route 140 between Briceburg and El Portal and sent nearby businesses into a slump.

Caltrans geotechnical and highway operations staff will need to assess the condition of the highway and the slope above it before Route 140 can reopen, Presto said.

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