roads

The teams for this Spring's Amgen Tour of California and Amgen Breakaway from Heart DiseaseTM Women’s Race empowered with SRAM have been announced, and they contain some of the most decorated cyclists in the world.

AEG, the producer and presenter of the 2017 tours, made the announcement today.

The men's Amgen Tour of California runs from May 14-20 and the Amgen Breakaway from Heart DiseaseTM Women’s Race empowered with SRAM starts in South Lake Tahoe on May 11,with the final race on May 14.

Closed highways and chain controls are hampering travel on Lake Tahoe area roads as the throngs of weekend skiers attempt to make their way home.

As of 9:45 a.m. Sunday, I-80 remains closed in both directions from Colfax to the Nevada state line due to hazardous driving condition. It has been closed since Saturday evening when the recent storm hit the region.

South Lake Tahoe – Tahoe Chamber would like to thank Councilmember Davis, Mayor Sass, and the Council for the invitation to attend the City Council February 14 special meeting and for the opportunity to present the business community’s priorities to the City as they prepare for their strategic planning retreat.

Several years ago, the Tahoe Chamber and its members established a vision and a set of priorities for the South Shore community titled Tahoe Future 2020. The vision statement from that document reads:

Potholes are a reality anywhere water is able to get under pavement, and after a long, hard winter as South Lake Tahoe is experiencing, our local roads are not immune. All across the country potholes wreak havoc with drivers each winter, causing damage to cars and tires as well as fraying a few nerves.

They seem to be everywhere, and drivers on many roads can be seen using defensive driving skills warranting an "ace" on a Sega GT or Daytona USA video game.

3:40 p.m. update: It is taking three hours from the Y to Meyers, so if you're on the road you may want to consider going inside for the rest of the day. The snow is not letting up and there is a lot more to come.

Traffic heading west from South Lake Tahoe is still slow going, and there have been several weather and traffic relate incidents on US50 west of Lake Tahoe. At this time, emergency vehicles are at the scene of a three-car accident near Kyburz. The road has reopened but may need to close again to remove one of the cars.

A series of storms will impact the region today through the middle of next week. The strongest storm in the series will impact the Sierra and western Nevada late Sunday night through Tuesday.

Phase One was in Lake Tahoe Thursday, bringing winds and snow with chain controls over mountain roads early in the day, but the system left the area fairly quickly.

10:45 a.m. update Feb. 15 - Some debris is still falling onto Highway 50 near the Alder Creek area, resulting in lane closures for crews to clean it up. Expect some delays at times.

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Crews working nonstop on Highway 50 after three mudslides closed the road have been able to get all cleaned up and the road opened in both directions at 10:32 p.m. Tuesday.

Roadwork to clear mud and rocks from Highway 50 continues on both sides of the state line of Lake Tahoe with no estimated reopening time released by either transportation agency.

Last week, five boulders fell onto the highway near Logan Creek on the east side of the lake, prompting Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) to close the road due to an unstable hillside. Progress is being made on the stretch of road that connects South Lake Tahoe to Carson City according to Meg Ragonese of NDOT. She said the "monolithic-size boulders" are being removed.

With the closure of Hwy 50 due to a mudslide, several motorists have taken to their GPS units to try to navigate around the closure. This has led to numerous parties getting stuck on roads that are closed during the winter, and in the end, has tied up valuable resources rescuing them from deep snow or impassable roads.

In the winter, the only safe alternate route when Hwy 50 is closed is to use SR88 to the South, or I80 to the North. You can take Hwy 49 in Placerville to reach either one. At this time though, both alternative routes are closed.

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners have declared a State of Emergency due to a flood and wind event that took place over the last couple of days. The flood event is supposed to continue into the duration of the weekend. The declaration has been submitted to the State of Nevada and will allow regional partners to speed up the delivery of resources required to more effectively aid in requesting additional resources, aid in recovery, and meet the needs of the community during a time of crisis.

Rain is still falling in South Lake Tahoe but chain controls are starting to go up at upper elevations as snow begins to fall. Up to 1"-2" more precipitation is still expected Thursday night at the 6,200 ft elevation.

Lake level rain is forecast to end Friday with a winter storm warning in place until Saturday morning at 1:00 a.m. 4"-7" of snow is expected in South Lake Tahoe during that time.

11:45 a.m. update: A large boulder has rolled onto Highway 50 near Bridal Veil Falls in the eastbound lane. Be prepared for diverted traffic.

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There are several flooded areas in the South Lake Tahoe and Meyers areas, resulting in some road closures.

As of 9:00 a.m. Thursday, the following roads are experiencing flooding:

Tahoe Keys - State Streets and Tahoe Keys Blvd
Bijou Area - Bill Avenue, Shirley Avenue, Betty Rae Ct, Vanda Lee, Woodbine Avenue
Portions of Glenwood Way
Portions of Pioneer Trail
Portions of lake Tahoe Blvd between the Y and High School

A flood warning remains in effect for South Lake Tahoe until Wednesday evening. One storm system will be leaving the area as a new atmospheric river heads into the region on Thursday.

Flood watch warning is now in place for Thursday at 10:00 a.m. to Friday at 4:00 a.m. This will be combine with a winter storm warning starting at the same time and going until Saturday at 1:00 a.m. Those warnings will be replaced with a dry period over the weekend with sunny clear skies and temperatures into the 40s and 50s.

The rain has caused some road closures:

A winter storm warning is in effect for the Lake Tahoe basin from 10:00 p.m. Sunday night through Monday at 10:00 p.m. with up to 10" of snow forecast for lake level.

As the snow passes Monday night, heavy rains will hit the Sierra, Reno and the Carson Valley with flooding possible in areas of poor drainage, creeks and streams. Rivers may see some rise with the rains.

Chains controls were up on all mountain roads Sunday night.

Forecast from the National Weather Service:

Good morning Lake Tahoe skiers and riders, If you are visiting, welcome to Lake Tahoe!

Today is Friday, February 3.

WINTER STORM WARNING POSTED THRU EARLY SATURDAY. WINDS ARE AFFECTING THE OPERATION OF UPPER MOUNTAIN LIFTS. DRESS FOR WINTER CONDITIONS!
HEAVENLY: GONDOLA & SKY ON HOLD;
KIRKWOOD: CHAIR 6 ON HOLD;
MT ROSE: BLAZING ZEPHYR ON HOLD;
SUGARBOWL: MT LINCOLN ON HOLD;
ALPINE & SQUAW: UPPER MOUNTAIN ON HOLD…
CALL AHEAD!
SURFACE CONDITIONS CONTINUE TO BE MACHINE GROOMED AND SKIER/RIDER PACKED & FIRM PACKED SNOW WITH FRESH POWDER ON TOP.

A big thank you to all of the volunteers who braved snow covered roads to help feed the vulnerable and hungry at Bread & Broth’s Monday Meal serving on January 23. Being the biggest snow fall in years, no one was really sure if the meal’s volunteers or any dinner guests would be able to travel the roads to St. Theresa’s Grace Hall. Amazingly, 65 dinner guests and most of the scheduled volunteers attended the dinner.

It’s been great seeing all of my friends and acquaintances who have lived here for less than 10 years posting photos and sharing how Snowmageddon 2017 has blown them away. I did the same when I first moved to Tahoe back in the 70’s and storms like this were not uncommon. Back then playing was more important than clearing the snow. I had a big Dodge Ram 4x4 pickup and I j drove over the snow in my driveway and packed it down. I did not own a snowblower and can’t remember shoveling much. One year the packed snow was so high I could not get the truck under the carport.

After California suffered through two weeks of storms, Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency on Monday, paving the way for cities and counties to get reimbursed for storm damage.

The City of South Lake Tahoe declared a state of emergency at their City Council meeting last week and is now going through the community to assess the damage.

South Lake Tahoe, Calif. - Tahoe Transportation District (TTD) has announced their buses in South Lake Tahoe will be on limited operations Monday, January 23 as the most recent storm makes its way out of the area.

South Lake Tahoe has experienced back-to-back major storms that left the roads narrow and difficult to negotiate safely.

Echo Summit was closed this morning so crews could work on avalanche control, creating a backup not only on Highway 50 in Meyers, but on side roads leading to the summit. Heavy snow stranded several motorists on North Upper Truckee near Mt. Rainer. Lake Tahoe Blvd was closed at Sawmill Pond while the highway was closed to prevent more drivers from driving towards North Upper Truckee.

Snow Days. Kids love 'em, parents maybe not so much.

Last week's five snow days, and a lack of one this week caused some parents to raise concern with how the Lake Tahoe Unified School (LTUSD) decides when to close school for the day.

Closing school is always a tough call for school superintendents across the country, so what is the science behind closing schools when it snows in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District?

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. - There are basic rules when behind the wheel, not only in fair weather, but also in stormy and snowy weather as South Lake Tahoe has been experiencing.

Here are tips for driving in snow from the American Automobile Association (AAA):
- Accelerate and decelerate slowly
- Drive slowly
- The normal dry pavement following distance of three to four seconds should be increased to eight to ten seconds
- Know your brakes
- Don't stop if you can avoid it
- Don't power up hills. ...
- Don't stop going up a hill
- Stay home

Snowplow operators have been working 12-hour shifts to get the roads in South Lake Tahoe cleared of snow, and they will continue widening roads starting Friday to prepare for the next storm.

During winter snow conditions, snow plows have the right of way on streets and vehicles left unattended in the streets are subject to a citation and/or getting towed. Law enforcement is seeing a large number of cars parked on neighborhood streets and not where they belong in driveways.

The four-mile section of SR-89 around Emerald Bay remains closed after recent storms dumped snow on Lake Tahoe. Caltrans maintenance staff have begun the process of clearing the roadway which has up to 30 feet of snow in some locations as well as debris from last week's storm.