Road Construction Impacts Coming This Spring 

March 10, 2024 - Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks officials report on road damage, after several park roads were severely damaged during the extreme winter storms in early 2023.

Planning a visit to Sequoia National Park this spring? Beginning in April, significant daytime closures will go into effect between Hospital Rock and the Giant Forest Museum.

Access from Grant Grove in Kings Canyon to the Giant Forest area will be open and the recommended route to visit the General Sherman Tree, Lodgepole, Moro Rock, and more during this period.

Several park roads were severely damaged during the extreme winter storms in early 2023. An extensive amount of work was completed in 2023, in partnership with the Federal Highway Administration. This year the focus will be on one site along the Generals Highway between the foothills and giant forest areas, and five sites along the Mineral King Road.

Generals Highway: This site between Hospital Rock and the Giant Forest Museum requires extensive drilling and rebuilding. It is expected that for the first four weeks of work, the highway will be completely closed for much of the day. During the second four weeks of work, there will be traffic delays controlled by traffic lights and flaggers.

Mineral King Road: This road was damaged both inside and outside the park boundary. Construction outside the park is expected to resume in the fall. Inside the park, work is expected to begin in April at five different sites. Work on these sites is expected to last for eight weeks. Mineral King Road typically reopens for the season to public vehicles in late May. Traffic delays are expected, but specifics are not yet available.

Highway 180 to Cedar Grove and Roads End: Highway 180 was severely damaged and closed throughout all of 2023. Caltrans is continuing repairs outside the park, west of Cedar Grove. Current projections are for repairs to be completed sometime in June. We hope to reopen Cedar Grove to the public shortly after Caltrans repairs are complete.

Crystal Cave Road: This road will remain closed for repairs and recovery in 2024.

We expect to have more information in the coming weeks. We urge anyone planning to visit during this time to check our park website for the most current information: https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/road-construction.htm

Source & photo: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks