Key road finally reopening in Yosemite

After a summer of standstills, some relief may finally be on the way for traffic-weary visitors to Yosemite National Park.

Tioga Road, a scenic route that provides access to the high country and also serves as the park's eastern entry point, opened Saturday after months of being smothered with snow and ice, according to the National Park Service.

It's an unprecedentedly late reopening for the twolane road, which continues Highway 120 across the park and through the Sierra Nevada meandering past granite cliffs and lush meadows.

Officials say some sections of the road will initially be reduced to a single lane, as repairs are still in progress.

Saturday will mark the latest recorded opening for Tioga Road, which typically closes for the winter in November and is usually back in service by June. The previous record was set 90 years ago only about three decades after the first cars puttered through Yosemite Valley.

The lengthy closure extended drive times for locals and cut back the number of customers for local businesses.

Just off Tioga Road, the Mobil in Lee Vining has seen dramatically fewer customers compared with past summers.

Estrella Romero, a cashier at the gas station, said about 500 customers would come through each day during most summers. This summer, it's been down to 150.

The reopening was delayed by last winter's historic snowfall, which at times shut down the park, campgrounds and access roads, including Tioga Road where even now some snow remains in sections as low as 8,000 feet. Park officials informed visitors of flooded meadows and trails in the area and urged visitors to plan for wet feet.

At the start of April, Tuolumne Meadows which is directly accessible via Tioga Road was blanketed under an average of 15 feet of snow. Crews last week uncovered major damage to at least 60% of the buildings in the area, including the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge and gift shop, as well as the wastewater treatment system that serves the area.