Crews optimistic of full reopening of Highway 41 path to Yosemite

MADERA COUNTY (KFSN) -- The fast work to reopen a vital route into Yosemite after the collapse of the highway ended up making it better than before.

A giant hole that started forming on Highway 41 near Fish Camp back on February 9 has been repaired, and the pathway into Yosemite National Park is back open to one-way traffic.

"The scope of it was significant in size," Cory Burkarth with Caltrans explained. "The amount of work, it was a very labor intensive project. We had to bring in a lot of equipment from outside of the area, so it was a very extensive project."

Crews are now allowing one-lane of traffic after the section of highway was completely shut down more than two weeks ago.

"We made some improvements to that section of roadway," Burkarth said. "We feel like the road is in a much better condition than it was before this incident. We feel very good about that section of roadway, and we're looking forward to closing this project out."

Weather permitting, Caltrans hope to close out the project and have both lanes reopened in the coming days.

"Just a couple of loose ends that need to be finished up, guard rails on northbound and southbound sides," Burkarth said. "In addition, we got a crew coming in they're going to stripe the roadway, so the lines go in as they normally would be."

As part of the process to repair the road, crew members are also replacing a nearly 100-year-old culvert capable of handling increased water flows.

"Over 6,500 yards of material was removed and put back in," Burkarth said. "We properly rebuilt the slopes. We rebuilt the roadway. This was a very successful repair project."