Photo by: David Iliff
This week, the National Park Service announced their plans to close Glacier Point Road in Yosemite National Park for road construction during 2021 and 2022. The Glacier Point Road Rehabilitation Project would start in the spring of 2021 and aims to correct multiple severe safety issues, pave the road to improve the road surface, provide a safe and consistent minimum road width, better manage visitor parking, and restore impacted areas on the ten miles between the Badger Pass Ski Area intersection and Glacier Point.
According to the National Park Service website, Yosemite National Park plans to repair aging and deteriorated pavement, pullouts, and parking areas along the Glacier Point Road. The project will pulverize and repave ten miles of the Glacier Point Road between Badger Pass and Glacier Point, repair the hairpin curves on the steep descent to Glacier Point to ensure that large vehicles can drive safely without drifting into the opposite lane, widen the pullout at the Clark Range Overlook to meet minimum safety standards, grade and pave a new parking area west of the existing Sentinel Dome parking area to replace off-road non-sanctioned parking and add new vault toilets, among other actions.
Construction would take place from spring through fall in 2021 and 2022, with full road closure one year and partial road closure the next. If the weather does not cooperate, it could take longer (and probably will).
The park will make a final determination on construction phasing when civic engagement and environmental compliance processes are concluded. In the meantime, the NPS has opened comments on the project—you have until September 19th to voice your opinion.
The park is also hosting a public meeting from 4:00pm to 6:00pm on August 28, 2019 at the Oakhurst Community Center and a webinar on September 4th, 2019.
I personally welcome any improvement to Yosemite’s infrastructure. And for those that don’t mind lacing up their hiking boots, you can still reach Glacier Point via the Four-Mile Trail, Pohono Trail, and Panorama Trail. The best part? You might have Glacier Point all to yourself if you do.