Crews continue to work on closed US395 at Mono Lake after multiple avalanches

This winter has taken its toll on Sierra highways, and US395 is no exception. The road had been closed along the Walker River and near Bishop, and now a series of avalanches along US395 between Lee Vining and SR167 has kept the highway closed for weeks.

The closure is due to multiple avalanche incidents from February 25-28 in the area of the 2016 Marina Fire. About 1/2 mile of the highway was closed by a 30-40 foot wall of snow.

On March 7, Caltrans initiated an avalanche control operation on the hillside along US395 between Lee Vining and State Route 167. Using a helicopter, Caltrans dropped approximately 20 small explosives attempting to trigger an avalanche. Once the hillside was deemed safe, emergency work began on March 8 to begin clearing the avalanches from U.S. 395

Beginning Thursday, March 9, a warmer atmospheric river moved into the region, bringing with it rain and higher snow levels. Emergency work had stopped before the storm arrived, and on March 12, Caltrans initiated another avalanche control operation using its Gazex system.

This operation triggered an avalanche on U.S. 395 south of previous avalanches. With the last series of storms, Caltrans performed additional avalanche mitigation operations before the emergency work can resume.

Over this past weekend, emergency work crews made progress and cleared a large portion of avalanche debris. There is no estimated time of reopening.

Another area that has had issues this winter has been US395 near Topaz Lake. There are currently one-way controls until the roadway is repaired and the hillside can be inspected. There are currently no plans to completely close US 395 at this location.

For current conditions, visit https://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/.