Nevada Governor Sandoval joins others as SR28 pathway project breaks ground

A two-three year project to create a three-mile shared-use path as well as enhance safety, accessibility and water quality on State Route 28 officially got underway Friday with a groundbreaking ceremony at Sand Harbor. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval led the festivities that will improve the busy and narrow highway which sees more than 2.5 million vehicles and 2,000 pedestrians and bicyclists.

The path will run from the south end of Incline Village to Sand Harbor State Park.

Other enhancements include rumble strips and emergency roadside turnouts, water quality improvements such as enhanced roadside drainage inlets, sediment filtration systems and erosion control which will help preserve the quality of stormwater entering Lake Tahoe.

As another element of the project, construction has begun on new parking areas located near the Ponderosa Ranch and Tunnel Creek Café. The parking lots will provide safer parking options for the almost one million recreationists who visit the area each year. An underpass will also be constructed beneath the highway to bring the upcoming shared use path from the east to west side of the road near the Flume Trail. Nearly 107 crashes occurred in the area between 2006 and 2013; accounting for approximately 25 percent of crashes on State Route 28.

Drivers should anticipate periodic construction-related lane and road closures on State Route 28 as the roadway improvements are made this fall, and as construction of the pathway continues through 2018.

Approximately 15 partner organizations came together to plan the path, which is envisioned as the first step in a future Nevada Stateline-to-Stateline shared-use path connecting from the Nevada-California state line in Crystal Bay to the South Lake Tahoe casino core. The project by Granite Construction will be funded through federal, state and local funding sources.