The California Department of Transportation is estimating it could cost as little as $35 million and up to $378 million to rebuild a short section of state route 140 between Mariposa and Yosemite National Park that was buried by a rock slide last year which is now bypassed by a detour, the Associated Press reported yesterday. The most expensive option is to construct a mile-long tunnel through a mountainside to permanently restore Highway 140, the western approach to the popular park. Less expensive solutions begin at $35 million, including constructing bypass bridges and a short road along the Merced River canyon.

Highway 140 was closed for three months beginning in April, 2006, after a rock slide occurred approximately 12 miles west of Yosemite’s Arch Rock entrance station. Two temporary, one-lane bridges now let motorists cross the river to get around the debris and return them to Highway 140 beyond the slide, but large tour buses can’t use the temporary detour, and the highway (nicknamed the “All Year Highway�) often is the best route during winter storms. National Park Service spokesman Scott Gediman described the highway as vital, “not only for tour buses but from an employee perspective,� as a large number of park and concession employees live in Mariposa and Midpines and must use the road to reach the park.

Transportation officials plan to select an option by next year, commence construction in 2009, and finish by 2012.