16% Road incline!
Granting it's only under 2 miles -- the long steep climbs are where the truck engine whines and becomes iffy:E The dreaded Tioga Pass from Lee Vining to Toulomne, 120 Merced to Yosemite, I-80 to D...
Forum Discussion
Yosemite Sam1 wrote:
So the 6% max grade are only for freeways?
Applies to all roads receiving federal funding, which typically includes most state, US and I routes (and in some cases city and county routes).
BUT!!!! There is a "design exception" process. In some cases, it's not possible or reasonable to meet federal design standards. As part of the process, we review the safety, capacity, delay and assess what it would take to meet the design standard.
For some of these routes, you would have to dig out a canyon hundreds, even thousands of feet deep for miles or dig long tunnels at many millions of dollars. It's pretty easy to justify a design exception.
These are mostly low volume, low speed roads with little commercial traffic. They mitigate via signing and prohibiting certain vehicle types.
