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Engineers with the California Department of Transportation plan to build two temporary bridges over the Merced River to get traffic around the Highway 140 rockslide in Mariposa County.
No date for completing the bridges has been set, said Bob Boswell, a Stockton-based spokesman for Caltrans.
Residents of the El Portal area who attended a meeting about the rockslide Thursday night said Caltrans officials told them they hoped the project could be ready by the end of the summer.
"We have tried really hard to look at the best way to get it open and this seems like the best way, but we have a lot of logistics to get through," Boswell said.
The temporary bridges will have one-way controlled traffic around the rockslide area. The rockslide began April 29 and the road was closed until May 25 after Caltrans built a rock-catching fence as a temporary fix.
The road closed again after a huge slide May 26 that crushed the fence, and it has not opened since, causing the loss of millions of tourism dollars to Mariposa County from travelers who are using other routes to go to Yosemite National Park.
While the rock-catching fence was only an interim measure, other proposals that have been considered include a tunnel in the slide area, a shelter over the road and simply moving part of the road.
Motorists can still get into the west side of Yosemite National Park along highways 120 and 41. Tioga Pass opened Friday for motorists driving into Yosemite on the eastern side of the park.
Boswell said no date is being given for completion of the project because Caltrans does not want to disappoint residents if something unforeseen occurs that will result in delays, he said.
"This particular road closure has its own set of unique circumstances," he said.
Caltrans hired a geologist from Canada with years of experience in similar situations to help the agency's engineers examine their options.
"We are actively working to find any way we can to get this road open safely for the public, and our goal is to do that as fast as we can," Boswell said.
The cost of the temporary bridges has not been established.
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