increased numbers of visitors, and planned a new visitor center and other facilities at Tuolumne Meadows, as well as campgrounds and other facilities along the Tioga Road. The Park Service wanted to promote increased use of the High Sierra region, and also the area around Wawona, hoping to draw visitors away from the over-crowded Yosemite Valley.
Work on an a-mile section of the central link was scheduled to start in summer 1956, but severe damage to other park roads caused by flooding in November 1955 caused Superintendent Preston to delay the work until the 1957 season.l06 Bids for two 3.3-mile sections were opened on 13 June 1957, the first for the stretch between McSwain Meadows and Yosemite Creek, and the second for a segment extending east from the creek. Construction was underway by late summer.107
The Sierra Club restated its earlier objections to the reconstruction. Club president Richard M. Leonard contended that a high-speed highway across the park was unnecessary and would pose serious safety problems. "The Yosemite National Park speed limit is very appropriately 35 mph, quite adequate for park display and internal park travel roads. Why then," he asked, "adopt the standards of the Crane Flat road section? [That section) invites speeds of 50 to 70 mph, so that the man who wants to travel at 35 mph and see the scenery is in danger of being hit in the rear by those who are not interested in the scenery." Leonard argued, "We don't build public thoroughfares through museums, libraries, art exhibits or cathedrals. Let us not build them through our parks." His successor as president, Alex Hildebrand, agreed with this analogy, stating "A highway down the center aisle of a cathedral would enable more people to go through it, but it would not enable more people to come there for peace and spiritual inspiration."108
On the other side of the issue was the Bureau of Public Roads, which pushed for an even wider road. The BPR argued that changing road standards now dictated a wide road with wide shoulders was required, in order that disabled vehicles could pull off the road. The BPR notified the Park Service that, unless the wider road standards were accepted, it would not undertake the project.109 Although Director Wirth had accepted the proposal for the high-speed road, he was unwilling to approve the wider road proposal. He stated, "I have given definite instructions that I do not want a fast road. I want a narrow road, because it is the width of the road that controls the speed."110 The matter was referred to engineer Walter Huber, now chairman of the Board of Expert Advisors for Yosemite National Park.111 Huber reiterated his support for the Park service's original plans, and offered advice on appropriate design standards:
- I feel the Tioga Pass road is and must remain essentially a park road. For this purpose I consider the 20 foot width of pavement to be satisfactory, i.e., two 10 foot width travel lanes. For the "Section in Through Fills," I would recommend that the 3' 0" shoulder on either side of the road be widened to 4'0". I note that this is to be a stabilized base grass shoulder. I hope this specification will be retained with insistence, otherwise, shoulders are soon coated and from the motorists' viewpoint look the same as pavement; thus we have in effect a 24 foot pavement without shoulders and once the motorist is over the edge he is often in trouble."112
Huber supported the remaining Park Service proposed road standards, including a 2-foot shoulder on level road sections. The Bureau of Public Roads accepted Huber's compromise and agreed to undertake the project.113
