Tuolumne County Traffic Delays Due To Tree Work

Sonora, CA — Motorists could face delays along Lyons Bald Mountain Road as a fire protection project gets underway next week and could run for over a month.

Starting Monday, August 15 Tuolumne County Inmate Crews will begin the Lyons Bald Mountain Road Fire Hazard Fuel Reduction Project, which will run Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day for about six weeks.  The work involves removing brush and tree limbs for fire protection and the Highway 108 Fire Safe Council is overseeing the project. The $50,000 project is being paid for by PG&E. Council board member John Swanson remarks on the potential problems, “Most problematic is the fact that there are dead trees along Lyons Bald Mountain Road. Those trees could either fall and hit the road or hit a PG&E power line. Those trees we are targeting for removal as well. Since those are very expensive. Depending on the number of those trees that we find that could change the cost of getting the work done.”

Swanson adds that Tuolumne County Road Department will provide a chipper to chip up the brush debris and distribute it along the roadside. Crews will be clearing 40 feet of vegetation on either side of the roadway along different stretches all the way up to the PG&E Powerhouse station at the end of Lyons Bald Mountain Road. Motorist traveling along the roadway are asked to use caution on the stretches where work is being done.