Improvements To Buchanan Road Finally A Go

Tuolumne, CA – Repairs to Buchanan Road are scheduled to begin this month after being delayed for years by the Rim Fire.

Improvements to the roadway were to take place in 2013 as part of a Tuolumne County, Forest Service and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) joint project, but as County Community Resources Agency Supervising Engineer Tanya Allen shares the Rim Fire torched those plans, stating, “The Forest Service as well as local logging industry had requested if we could delay the project for a couple years in order to allow for the logging operations to not lose any of the timber that was recently burned in the Rim Fire. So, FHWA reprogrammed this project for construction for 2017-18 and they are now moving forward.”

The improvements to Buchanan Road will begin at Carter Street in Tuolumne and end at the Buchanan Road Bridge and Fish Hatchery Road. The nearly $26 million dollar project also includes replacing the bridge. Construction will begin on Monday, October 23 and is slated to be finished on September 28, 2018.

The county has provided these details regarding the hours of operation and road closures:

• From October 23 to November 3rd – Normal work hours will be Monday thru Friday 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with intermittent 30 minute traffic closures.
• Beginning November 6 – Normal work hours will be from 7:00a.m. to 5:00p.m., with the road CLOSED from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Traffic will only be allowed to pass through the entire project between 12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday.

The county reports the work will be done weather permitting and no work is scheduled for nights or on weekends.