Guide To Closed Roads On The Forest
Sonora, CA — With many enjoying the outdoors during the holidays, Stanislaus National Forest officials want to make it easy for motorists to know what roads are closed for the winter season.
Forest officials are offering a list of all the roads shut down for the winter season by clicking here 2018 STF closed road list (1). Forest spokesperson Diana Fredlund explains that on the closure list roads are given operational maintenance levels of 1 to 5. Lower roads are more primitive and not as well maintained while the higher levels are usually paved but can get damaged due to the harsh weather conditions, stating, “Because the bed is not prepared for being able to have a lot of traffic and a lot of weight on it when it’s wet or slushy. For example, there are roads we haven’t been able to fix because of the storms a couple of years ago.”
Fredlund notes that many of the roads have gates or are barricaded off, but not all. She advises the public to check the list and reminds that any damage done by driving on those roads can be costly. “It’s taxpayer dollars. The budgets are very constrained. The biggest problem is we are limited in our ability to fix some of the damage when they are used because they’re not maintained for that type of use. There maintained for being used in the summer time when the ground is a little harder and doesn’t give as much.”
The forest seasonal road closures went into effect earlier this month, as reported here. They are slated to reopen on April 14th.
