Two Mountain Passes Reopen Just In Time For Holiday Weekend
Sonora, CA – Two of the Mountain Passes reopened to motorists this afternoon just in time for Memorial Day Weekend.
Caltrans reports that Sonora and Ebbetts Pass reopened at 2 p.m. today. The passes were closed after a storm system passed through the area beginning this past Sunday (May 17th) bringing snow to the high country through Tuesday. Caltrans District 10 spokesperson Warren Alford details to Clarke Broadcasting, “We had a whole bunch of snow, almost a foot. This time of year is when we’re kind of babysitting the passes. So, we open them a storm comes in we close them.”
The two passes just opened for the season last Friday (May 15th), as reported here. Luckily, there was little in the way of debris on the roadways as Alford explains, “Fortunately when we open the passes for the season we deal with a lot of that stuff. So, our crews didn’t have to have much in the way of cleanup. It was pretty much just scrape the snow off the road and let Mother Nature get some sun on it and we get it back open again.”
A reminder that state agencies are still calling for everyone to stay as close to home as possible, and practice social distancing even with these passes reopening. As for Highway 120 Tioga Pass, it remains close to through traffic since Yosemite National Park remains closed but click here for news on the park’s possible partial reopening in June.
