highway patrol

Tahoe is a glorious place. Most of us come here to live in its beauty, but it’s the “community” that keeps so many of us here. It’s that sense of doing good for one another that keeps many of us hopeful about the future. I’m happily involved in different aspects of our community and that part of my life is why I feel so grateful and blessed. Tuesday’s Drug Store Project for our sixth-grade youth was a testament to the compassion and dedication of our agencies, businesses, service clubs, and community members for the good of its people.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Highway 50 over Echo Summit has been closed all afternoon due to snow slides across the highway. State Route 89 around Emerald Bay is also closed due to snow slides in that area as well.

Travelers may have been hoping for an April Fools Day joke when they saw the road closures signs go up on a day free of snow showers, but it wasn't.

The Nevada Highway Patrol (NHP) has released information about Friday's fatal crash on Interstate 580 that killed a former South Tahoe High student and Carson City resident.

On March 8 at approximately 2:25 a.m., NHP Troopers were dispatched to the scene of a single vehicle crash south of the Galena Creek Bridge, just north of the US-395 Alternate/Bowers Mansion exit.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - Two skiers and their dog spent two chilly nights in the snow before being rescued by a California Highway Patrol (CHP) helicopter on Monday morning.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office requested CHP Helicopter H-20 to assist them in locating skiers who had been missing since the afternoon of Saturday, February 16. H-20 located the skiers in the snowy mountains miles away from Highway 88 and Peddler Hill, south of Lake Tahoe. They had built a snow cave to survive the sub-freezing temperatures.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - A 40-year-old man from Fremont, California died Sunday afternoon after being hit by a car near Bridal Veil Falls on Highway 50 west of Lake Tahoe.

Ramesh Pulavarthi was standing on the driver's side of his vehicle in the #2 eastbound lane of U50 just east of the falls at 1:50 p.m. A 2010 Jeep driven by 59-year-old Sacramento man was heading east approaching the falls when he came upon Pulavarthi's vehicle that was parked in the travel lane. He swerved to the left but struck Mr. Pulavarthi who was thrown several feet and sustained fatal injuries.

We are not unique in the fact that traffic apps have been showing shortcuts and causing headaches in neighborhoods, which have become freeways filled with people speeding through them to "save" up to a minute on their commute.

We do not have the luxury of support from our elected officials as other communities do, so we must come up with a solution ourselves.

Meyers is under siege every weekend with tourists trying to get home after a long weekend of enjoying what we sometimes take for granted and they are using traffic apps to try to get around the gridlock.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has created electronic closures on two roads in Meyers ahead of a snowy, crowded three-day holiday weekend in Lake Tahoe.

Two of the culprits in recent standstill traffic jams as visitors depart Lake Tahoe at the end of a weekend are electronically closed until Monday, February 18 at 9:00 p.m.

Closures of Sawmill Road and North Upper Truckee were initiated by the CHP in Meyers, then uploaded by Caltrans onto Waze, Google and other maps systems used on cellphones.

LAKE TAHOE, Nev. - During the storm that hit Lake Tahoe on Saturday, February 9, several drivers decided to ignore closure signs on the Mt. Rose Highway and proceed without complying to chain requirements on the open portions. These vehicles became stuck in the heavy snowfall or stopped due to zero visibility white-out conditions, leading rescuers into what they call "life-threatening conditions."

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.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A woman and her three-year-old child were transported to Barton Hospital Wednesday evening after their vehicle rolled several times on Pioneer Trail just east of Jicarilla Drive in South Lake Tahoe.

The early reports completed by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) state the 25-year-old driver lost control of her vehicle and it hit the guardrail twice before rolling and landing on its roof. Witnesses told responding Lake Valley Firefighters they saw the car roll five times.

STRAWBERRY, Calif. - A Sunday afternoon collision between a pedestrian and a Chevy Tahoe left a vehicle overturned and a pedestrian with very minor injuries near Strawberry, west of Lake Tahoe.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless is hosting an open house at the South Lake Tahoe Warm Room on February 7, 2019 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The event will begin with tours of the Warm Room from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Warm Room is the overnight emergency shelter we operate each winter to give our homeless neighbors respite from the worst of the winter weather. This year the Warm Room is located at 1201 Emerald Bay Road in South Lake Tahoe, next door to Ernie’s Coffee Shop.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - If you don't have to be on the roads around Lake Tahoe today, don't go.

As the beginning of fairly strong weather system has just hit the Sierra, there are not only chain controls but also a series of collisions and spinouts. The storm shouldn't have surprised anyone as warnings have been in place all week.

As of 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 5, 2019, chain controls are up on all mountain roads around Lake Tahoe on the California side, expected to be going up soon on the Nevada side.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Law enforcement and medical issues associated with the 2018 SnowGlobe Music Festival were down again on the event's second night, leading City of South Lake Tahoe staff to call the evening "another success."

After much concern from the community, staff has been working to alleviate concerns from them concerning noise and trouble for law enforcement.

Highlights of the second day include:

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is preparing for the upcoming New Year’s Eve celebration at Lake Tahoe starting on Monday, December 31, 2018.

Due to the high volume of celebrants within the Stateline casino core area during this event, U.S. Highway 50 may be closed to vehicle traffic in the evening if necessary for public safety. If that should occur, vehicle traffic will be diverted around the Stateline casino core area using upper and lower Lake Parkway Drive. In past years, the road has closed anywhere from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The snow has fallen and the kids are out of school so it's time for many to hit the Sierra. Skiers and boarders have the slopes but where do sledders and those just wanting to play go?

Many stop on the highway and pull onto the shoulder (well, sort of) and head to the patch of snow. This behavior is causing problems for law enforcement, other drivers and is an accident waiting to happen.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The California Highway Patrol (CHP) escorted a wide-load road truck and semi-trailer that were carrying an unusual cargo, a F-14 Tomcat. CHP picked up the escort at the Nevada-California state line on SR-88, helped it over Luther Pass on SR-89 and then to US-50 with a destination of the Lake Tahoe Airport.

When at the airport it was lifted off the truck, over trees and down to the tarmac.

A South Tahoe High graduate has been identified as the victim in a single car crash on Highway 1 just after 3:00 p.m. Monday, December 3, 2018.

According to a press release from the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff-Coroner, the sole occupant of the vehicle was 18-year-old Zachary Andrew Harris of South Lake Tahoe.

Sheriff's deputies and officers from the California Highway Patrol responded to a single vehicle versus tree collision at Highway 1 and Stenner Creek Road, in-between Cuesta College and San Luis Obispo.

He was declared dead at the scene.

STATELINE, Nev. - Kingsbury Grade was closed for about an hour Monday morning after two trucks collided Mile near Tramway Drive at approximately 8:00 a.m.

"The silver Ford F-150 went off the right side of the road and was then redirected, causing the truck to cross the centerline and strike the right front of the black Ford Flatbed truck," said Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Matt McLaughlin.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A fire at Sierra House Elementary School on November 11, 2018 was caused by an electrical overload due to “daisy chain wiring” of two power cords in a classroom.

When firefighters from Lake Valley Fire Protection District (LVFPD) arrived at the school at 9:35 p.m. they found smoke once the front doors were opened and flames observed as they turned the corner near the "upper pod" wing.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Rockefeller Center in New York City has a Christmas tree as a backdrop for all holiday activities in the Big City since 1933, and now South Lake Tahoe is starting what hopes to be an annual tradition. Standing at 60-feet, the local version isn't quite as big as their neighbor on the East Coast (which runs 60-100 feet and can weigh close to 30,000 pounds), but it serve as a place to warm hearts and be a center of holiday photos and fun.

The names of the two South Lake Tahoe police detectives involved in last Monday's officer involved shooting have been released.

Search and Rescue teams located the body of missing hiker Bradford Dozier on Saturday, November 3, 2018 at the base of a cliff in Alpine County.

A search was initiated after Dozier left on a hike to the Carson Pass area on October 27. His car was found on Sunday at the Evergreen Trailhead. It appears Dozier died after falling 200 feet as he attempted to free climb steep terrain on the north side of Peak 9626 according to the Alpine County Sheriff's Office.

Dozier was described by family and friends as an avid and strong hiker who enjoyed climbing peaks in the Sierras.

The safety of pedestrians and bicyclists is the focus of a federal grant to the California Highway Patrol (CHP) for the coming year.

The California Pedestrian and Bicyclist Enforcement and Education Project (CPBEEP) grant runs from October 1, 2018, through September 30, 2019. During this year-long statewide campaign, CHP officers will conduct enhanced enforcement activities and public education campaigns.