Page:Tioga Road (HAER No. CA-149) written historical and descriptive data.pdf/22

 Superintendent Preston sought to keep the old section of the Tioga Road between May Lake and Tenaya Lake open as a scenic loop, but the proposal was rejected by the Park Service's regional office. NPS Region IV Director Lawrence C. Merriam, a former Yosemite superintendent, told Preston in October 1960 that the office was determined to return part of the old route to wilderness. Merriam pointed out that keeping the old road open would make the arguments used in defense of the realignment seem hypocritical.127

In January 1961, Superintendent Preston suggested naming the new vista on the granite dome southwest of Tenaya Lake for Frederick Law Olmsted, the celebrated landscape architect and early Yosemite Grant Commissioner, and for his son, the F. L. Olmsted, Jr., also a noted landscape architect and member of the Yosemite National Park Board of Expert Advisors.128 As the Olmsteds had urged that park projects be planned to have a minimal impact on the landscape, the naming of the vista on the scarred dome carried a certain irony.

The completed Tioga Road was dedicated on 24 June 1961. Director Wirth, speaking at the ceremony held at Olmsted Point, defended the road's placement, saying "I'm making no apologies for the Tioga Road." Total cost of the reconstruction project was $5,491,000.129

The California Department of Highways state rebuilt the existing road up Lee Vining Creek Canyon between 1963 and 1967.130 For the first time, a modern highway crossed the High Sierra through Yosemite. The Tioga Pass crossing is today the highest paved highway in California. Commercial trucking is not permitted on the highway.

Faced with ever-increasing traffic, the National Park Service considered several alternatives for the Tioga Road in its draft 1978 General Management Plan. Alternative Two of the plan called for closing the road to all except trans-Sierran motorists, and instituting a shuttle service to provide access within the park. Campgrounds along the road would be converted to walk-in sites. The removal of cars would certainly have helped reduce the impact on the high country; however, the construction of a 1,500-car parking lot near Tioga Pass would have severely affected this pristine area. This alternative was rejected in the final plan, and no changes in use were specified for the Tioga Road.131

The Federal Highway Administration (FHwA)conducted a parkwide road system evaluation in 1989. The study noted that high speeds on the improved Tioga Road had led to a number of fatal accidents, just as opponents had predicted. The most troublesome section of the road was the exposed granite area at Olmsted Point, which had a number of accidents and was occasionally blocked by snow slides. The exfoliating granite was protected by park regulations, therefore the FHwA offered several alternatives to widening the road in a broader cut. The agency suggested that a snowshed might be employed, or that the road might be extended out on cantilever sections or fill. As a final alternative, one or both lanes could be rerouted along the old Tioga Road in the May Lake area.132 As of this writing, none of the proposals have been adopted.

Some portions of the old road may still be traveled. From the Evergreen Road which runs from near the Big oak Flat Entrance Station to Mather through the Stanislaus National Forest, a paved section of the old road extends nearly four miles towards Aspen Valley, and an unpaved section continues on as far as this inholding. Another segment can be driven on from the new road to White Wolf Lodge, and other sections serve as access roads to the Yosemite Creek Campground and the May Lake High Sierra Camp. A service road uses part of the old route continuing northwest from White Wolf to service stables at