South Lake Tahoe traffic meeting: "Our quality of life has been affected"

MEYERS, Calif. - Traffic through neighborhoods in the Meyers area has become unbearable to many residents as vehicles leaving South Lake Tahoe to take to side streets in an effort to circumvent Highway 50 traffic over Echo Summit.

In an effort to find solutions to a problem that keeps Meyers residents from their homes for hours at a time, a townhall-style meeting was held on Friday night.

About 150 people attended the meeting which was facilitated by Jeffrey Spencer, former candidate for El Dorado County supervisor and a transportation planner. He laid out the ground rules early...no grandstanding and encouragement for new ideas.

"Nothing is going to happen overnight," said Spencer. He wants everyone, even those unable to attend, to participate and seek solutions. He also asked for people to him ideas and he'll take them to Sacramento and work with legislators to get the problem fixed. (He can be reached at jlmspencer@outlook.com)

Spencer also encouraged "fresh ideas" as social media has rehashed many ideas for months, with no doable solutions surfacing.

"We are not alone," was mentioned a few times during the 75-minute meeting.

As was, "Stay off the side roads."

Issues arise as visitors are moving through residential streets, either directed by map applications like Waze or Google, or by the knowledge that these "short-cuts" exist. The westbound traffic moving into the neighborhoods has caused more problems than have been seen before in South Lake Tahoe. Vehicles moved out of the line of cars on the highway and Pioneer Trail, only to cause a backup when they attempt to merge onto the highway at the last possible point before heading up Echo Summit.

The result is a community held hostage by traffic and passion and anger has risen to the surface.

Residents wouldn't have issues if the vehicles stayed on the major roads, but this "shortcutting" has not only affected their peace and quiet and ability to go to work and shopping but has also led to anger and frustration on the part of the visitor.

California Highway Patrol Lt. Commander Terry Lowther explained that areas across the country are experiencing the same type of traffic, it isn't unique to Tahoe.

"Technology is working against us," he said. And it only affects the side roads and not the highways as rerouting through traffic only takes drivers to the side roads.

Lowther told the audience that they cannot close streets unless there is an emergency, health or safety hazard, and they cannot be closed to prevent traffic. He said infrastructure is the CHP's biggest problem and don't have the staffing to keep people assigned to just traffic.

"We are staffed for an average Tahoe day," said Lowther. "We manage emergency incidents."

Lowther did say that Caltrans or El Dorado County Department of Transportation can upload electronic road closures to Waze and Google apps. They wouldn't be real road closures, just telling the apps to send drivers in another direction.

Nobody from Caltrans was at the meeting and even though the County was not invited to the meeting, CAO Don Ashton and Deputy Director of Transportation Brian Mullens
were there, but not asked to speak.

Lake Valley Fire Protection District (LVFPD) and South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue (SLTFR) were there to speak along with El Dorado County Sheriff's Office.

LVFPD Chief Tim Alameda told the group that they didn't need to worry about fire responders not being able to get through traffic. He said they can find a way and work cooperatively with others in the Lake Tahoe Basin to protect the community with their resources.

He also said he wished he'd seen as much passion for safety and community participation when his department needs more funding for firefighting equipment, staff, and trucks.

Any visual impediment slows traffic, said Lowther, referring to the lines of cars pulled over on the highway at Echo Summit for snow play. Other contributing factors to the slowdowns along the summit are the road's curves and the area's beauty.

For every one minute of slowing traffic, it takes about three minutes to recover.

There were a lot of suggestions to alleviate the traffic shared at the meeting:

Add construction netting to the cones attempting to block drivers from stopping along the highway. This would prevent that one car who pulls over enticing others to follow.

No right turns onto Highway 50 from North Upper Truckee. Place signage at the beginning of this route that causes much of the backup, alerting drivers there is no access to the highway ahead.

On major travel days, make certain roads one-way only to keep the westbound traffic off those roads.

Add chain control signs by South Tahoe High School. Many of those using North Upper Truckee don't have chains and could be circumventing the chain control on Highway 50, or they could just be caught by surprise by the poorer road conditions during storms, causing them to lack traction on hills and further block the roads.

Pre-position law enforcement from other areas on those known busy days, much as firefighters do on red flag days. Both CHP and the Sheriff's Office said they already allocate staff during those times and there isn't funding.

Tourism benefits from those coming to Lake Tahoe and should contribute more financially to helping the problem.

Further reduce the number of cars allowed at vacation home rentals. A home that would see just one car in the past in the driveway now sees three to four.

Enforce the California Food and Agriculture Codes 5344 and 5349 where it is unlawful for the operator of a vehicle to intentionally drive around an agriculture inspection station.

"We need to find ways, we will work through each one to find a solution," said Spencer.

When asked how he thought the meeting went, Spencer said, "I was able to handle the frustrations, channel it to suggested actions, and keep folks involved. Answering questions helped folks realize the issues we face."

He will keep everyone who signed up for notifications informed on progress.