Icy roads lead to car pileups and road closures on South Shore

On Wednesday, icy roads around Heavenly Valley Ski Resort caught drivers off guard, leading to one pileup on Tramway Drive off of Kingsbury Grade and crashes on Needle Peak and Keller roads in South Lake Tahoe.

There was a total of 16 cars involved in the Tramway Drive incident near Bonnie Dr. where vehicles coming down the hill all lost control and slid into the cars already stuck at the bottom. One of those vehicles involved was a Douglas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) deputy. There were no injuries reported.

According to DCSO Undersheriff Ron Elges, Tramway was shut down as soon as deputies could to stop any other accidents. Snowplows were brought in once all of the cars were cleared to help with road conditions.

Over on the California side, ice led to cars sliding into each other on both Needle Peak and Keller roads. South Lake Tahoe Police Department closed Needle Peak Road between Wildwood and Keller until all cars involved could be removed.

Controls were put up on Keller as they are often during winter, requiring all vehicles to have chains or 4WD with snow tires.

Road crews were able to keep Ski Run Boulevard open with no controls to the base lodge at Heavenly.