Innovative transportation plans necessary for Lake Tahoe

Wildfire and invasive species weren't the only topics of this year's Tahoe Summit. With the theme "Connecting Lake Tahoe’s Environment and Economy Through Innovation and Transportation,” speakers at Monday's event also talked of the importance of improved roadways and access for alternative modes of transportation that will support the anticipated increase in numbers of visitors to Lake Tahoe.

Carlos Monje, Jr, the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, and from New Orleans, LA, shared stories of growing up on Lake Pontchartrain with its brown water and unsafe swimming conditions. Nobody protected the lake (though recent efforts have started to change the lake).

"The Federal Government is a big part of the effort in Lake Tahoe," said Monje. "Many other lakes in the U.S., like Pontchartrain, didn't get the protection Lake Tahoe has."

By the early 1960s architects had sketched out plans for a city the size of San Francisco ringing Tahoe’s shores. Highway planners proposed four-lane freeways around the lakeshore and a concrete bridge spanning Emerald Bay.

If this had happened, Lake Tahoe wouldn't be the pristine area that it is, with 75 feet of clarity in the lake and by attracting hundreds of thousands of people a year to not only take in the view, but to enjoy recreational opportunities.

"You need local leadership and strong government to make it work," said Monje.

California and Nevada have come together to jointly work on ways to protect Lake Tahoe, and a large focus of current, bipartisan efforts are on transportation.

With demands on transportation increasing, California and Nevada need to concentrate on innovation on road use as well as bike and walking trails to continue to have a clear lake. More runoff from roads and more use of the roads surrounding the lake contribute to declining clarity of the lake and increased invasive species on the nearshore.

Monje said the government will continue to provide communities with planning grants, promote green efforts to control run off and plans to get cars off the roads through congestion management.

How much they'll fund will be made clear when the House and Senate vote on their Lake Tahoe Restoration Acts.

In the meantime, Tahoe Transportation District is moving forward with the Tahoe City "Y" reconfiguration as well as the Loop Road Project in South Lake Tahoe. Nevada Governor Sandoval will continue the bus route to Sand Harbor State Park to ease traffic on Highway 28 and the Stateline to Stateline Bike Path work continues.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on road projects around the lake, most for stormwater management projects with curbs and gutters. It will take robust funding from Washington, D.C. to complete the long list of transportation projects in the Lake Tahoe basin.

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