Rock Creek Road to receive some love

A $7.2 million project in Mono County will get off the ground thanks to funding approval from the California Forest Highway Tri-Agency (comprised of: USDA Forest Service, Caltrans and Federal Highway Administration or FHWA).

An application for the Rock Creek Road Rehabilitation Project was submitted in March for consideration in the 7-year Forest Highway Program. The competition for project approval was strong, but the Rock Creek Road Rehabilitation project was ranked favorably because it is an important access point for users of the Inyo National Forest and it will provide important safety improvements for vehicles and cyclists.

This project will result in full rehabilitation and bike lane improvements on 9.2 miles of road from U.S. 395 near Tom’s Place to the Mosquito Flats trailhead above Rock Creek Lake.

The FHWA will take the lead on the project moving forward. The next step is design which is expected to be completed by the end of 2012. Project construction is approximately five or six years away, depending on when funding becomes available.

Without Forest Highway funding, it is unlikely that the County would have been able to identify a funding source for this project in the same time frame. This is the same program that funded the rehabilitation and bike lanes completed on the Mammoth Scenic Loop last fall.

For more information on the Forest Highway program, please visit the Central Federal Lands Highway website:  http://www.cflhd.gov/LRTP/. –LAK