• Source: Wawona Tunnel

The Wawona Tunnel is a highway tunnel in Yosemite National Park. It, and Tunnel View just beyond its east portal, were completed in 1933.
Wawona Tunnel is named after the community of Wawona but its name origin is not known. A popular story claims Wawō'na was the Miwok word for "big tree", or for "hoot of the owl", a bird considered the sequoia trees' spiritual guardian.




Route


Wawona Tunnel was bored through solid granite bedrock, and carries Wawona Road through a granite mountain on the south side of the Merced River. It is located on one of the three main roads providing access to Yosemite Valley, the most visited section of the park. Wawona Road becomes California State Route 41 on exiting the park. After passing through the tunnel, when leaving Yosemite Valley, Wawona Road continues to Chinquapin Junction with Glacier Point Road to Badger Pass ski area & Glacier Point, and reaches an elevation of 6,039 feet (1,841 m) above sea level.




Specifications


At 4,233 feet (1,290 m) long Wawona Tunnel is the longest highway tunnel in California.
A $1.5 million federal highway contract to repair the tunnel's ventilation and electrical systems, and a separate contract to upgrade visitor services at Tunnel View, was completed in 2008.




Scenery


The Wawona Tunnel features in a monochrome photograph by Ansel Adams: From Wawona Tunnel, Winter, Yosemite, about 1935.




See also


List of tunnels documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in California
National Register of Historic Places listings in Yosemite National Park
Tunnel View




References






External links



Driving through the Wawona Tunnel on YouTube
Vehicle Restrictions, National Park Service
Photo of Department of Agriculture Survey Plaque — dated 1936 and giving the tunnel's length as 4358.91 feet.
Photo of ventilation fans, The Digital Ark Corporation
Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. CA-105, "Wawona Tunnel, Wawona Road through Turtleback Dome, Yosemite Village, Mariposa County, CA", 16 photos, 2 color transparencies, 2 measured drawings, 16 data pages, 2 photo caption pages
McClelland, Linda Flint (November 18, 1997). Building the National Parks: Historic Landscape Design and Construction. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0801855832.

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Wawona Tunnel
• Wawona Tree
• Wawona, California
• Tunnel View
• Yosemite Stage and Turnpike Company
• List of tunnels in California
• Wawona Hotel
• Mariposa Grove
• Tom Lantos Tunnels
• California State Route 41