The State - News from May 22, 1986

Caltrans will not be able to open Ebbets and Sonora passes in the southern Sierra to auto traffic in time for the Memorial Day weekend, a spokesman said. But state and federal crews still expect to open 9,945-foot Tioga Pass on California 120 by Saturday. “Our target date for Sonora and Ebbets now is May 30,” said Bill Selling, Caltrans’ mountain region manager.”We’re still working on snow drifts up to 40 feet high on Sonora. It’s wet snow with a lot of ice in it.” At Yosemite, a National Park Service spokeswoman said the work to open Tioga Pass by Saturday still is on schedule. The road, linking Yosemite to Lee Vining near Mono Lake, is maintained at lower elevations by the state but by the federal agency near the Sierra crest. Because of the unusually heavy snowfall last February, Rep. Richard Lehman (D-Calif.) got the U.S. Interior Department to allocate $50,000 for an effort to open Tioga, the highest pass in California, for Memorial Day traffic.