New entrance/exit for Round Hill Pines being planned

LAKE TAHOE, Nev. - Anyone passing by the entrance to Round Hill Pines on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe during the summer months knows the traffic and safety issues created by drivers turning into the popular beachfront resort.

On Tuesday night there was a public meeting held to gather ideas on a solution to the ingress and egress issues the road has along Highway 50 in this area. Representatives from the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT), US Forest Service, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the Federal Highway Administration(FHWA) were on hand to lead the discussion.

The new project is called the Round Hill Pines Access Project and spearheaded by FHWA.

The issue is the over 20,000 daily drivers that pass the entrance on a daily basis, and a resulting nine crashes stemming from left turns from Highway 50 across a double-yellow line. There are sight distance issues in this area since it is at the top of a hill on a curved section of highway.

Phase 1 of an improvement project on the USFS owned Round Hill Pines was completed in 2018 and the next phase includes the relocation of connector roads, parking areas and maintenance roads and realignment of the multi-use trail.

Some of the potential solutions provided by the public during the meeting were traffic calming features with lowered speed limits in the area, the addition of a turn lane and/or traffic light, make a one-way in and one-way out driveway, ban parking from Highway 50, give special parking spaces to electric cars and add an underpass.

At this time they are looking at a new driveway to be created north of the current entrance which is also USFS land.

FHWA said the plan they will take the ideas gathered during the meeting and begin field surveys (including wildlife, cultural and noise studies) in May. In the fall there will be another public meeting during the environmental review stage, then it goes to final design in the summer of 2020 with construction in 2021. It will be a one season project. Their involvement is to create the project and hand it over to NDOT and USFS following completion.

Officials at the meeting reminded people that this will be a driveway project, not a highway project. It will be paid for by federal funds.

In 2020 NDOT will be installing pedestrian improvements on Highway 50 at Warrior Way followed by the US 50 Pavement Rehabilitation Project by NDOT in 2023/24.