Traffic

With the South Shore swelling by more than 100,000 people, authorities remained busy over the Independence Day holiday with a number of calls on both sides of the state line. South Lake Tahoe Police Department Lt. David Stevenson reports the following:

Most Americans may not realize it, but the Fourth of July is one of the deadliest holidays of the year due to alcohol-impaired driving crashes. That’s why this Fourth of July the Avoid the 6 DUI Task Force is stepping up enforcement efforts as part of the ongoing “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” enforcement crackdown to catch and arrest impaired drivers who put themselves and others at risk.

The Nevada Highway Patrol, along with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, Sparks Police Department, and the Carson City Sheriff’s Office are planning a sobriety check point for the Fourth of July holiday.
The check point will be held in Incline Village at Lake Tahoe and is being funded by a Joining Forces grant from the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety.
Due to the fireworks display and other special events planned at Lake Tahoe, a large increase in both vehicular and pedestrian traffic expected during the holiday.

UPDATE 8:06PM: Scene is secured, according to South Lake Tahoe Police. Highway 50 reopened as is Safeway. Best Western customers who were evacuated now allowed to return to their rooms.

UPDATE 8PM: Areas near Takela Drive and Fairview on Highway 50 have been blocked off for vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle traffic, passersbys have been told to leave the area, a hotel has reportedly been evacuated, and a bomb squad has been staged at Safeway on Johnson Boulevard, according to South Lake Tahoe Police via dispatch.
At around 6:45 p.m. a bomb squad reportedly responded and was told to stage its operation command center at the Safeway store on Johnson Lane. According to dispatch via scanner a hotel was evacuated, also around 6:45 p.m. It is unknown at this time why the bomb squad was called or what the situation is. However, reports are that authorities were going to use a fire hose to blast water at whatever has been deemed suspicious. It is unclear whether it is a package under scrutiny. As of 7:57PM Highway 50 was still blocked and traffic was diverted.
Developing ....

More than 2,000 Northern Nevadans have been ticketed for cellphone-related traffic violations in the five months since the use of handheld phones has been banned in motor vehicles.

UPDATE 8:50AM; Here is the latest from the South Lake Tahoe Police Department regarding the armed standoff overnight. The woman was detained by authorities at around 5 a.m.

Armed Standoff with Barricaded Suicidal Subject

What do you get when you jam twelve community leaders in a small van and send them on the road for three days? In addition to lots of laughs and too many unanswered texts, this merry van of road warriors got a collective awakening to the positive power of change. The road trip, sponsored by www.Tahoechamber.org, was an eye-opening view of how other communities solved what seemed insurmountable problems and, in doing so, prospered.

A 12-year-old boy wearing headphones and riding a bicycle without a helmet was hurt in a collision on Thursday, South Lake Tahoe police report. The accident happened at the intersection of Lyons Avenue and Highway 50 when the boy attempted to cross against a red traffic signal.

A pedestrian was reportedly hit by a vehicle at Highway 50 at the Zephyr Cove Lodge at about 3:30 Friday afternoon. The victim was said to be conscious but bleeding from the head. Three vehicles are said to be involved in the accident, according to Douglas County dispatch.
Traffic controls are in place in the westbound lane headed into Lake Tahoe and the eastbound lane of Highway 50 toward Spooner Summit. A CalStar medical helicopter from South Lake Tahoe was unavailable because of snow and visibility. The victim was instead to be transported by ambulance to Barton Memorial Hospital.

Two, possibly three people in parachutes reportedly in distress have been reported missing near Pope Beach in South Lake Tahoe this morning.

One parachutist may have been rescued from the water, according to initial reports.

South Lake Tahoe Fire and Rescue is looking for the parachutists who apparently landed on the water, and have positioned themselves at Pope Beach, Camp Richardson and the Tahoe Keys, according to police scanner traffic.

Rescue boats have also been launched.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A rollover accident near Grocery Outlet has traffic backed up to the "Y" on eastbound Highway 50. Anyone traveling in that direction should prepare for delays.Officers...

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will begin work to repair the Pope-Baldwin Bike Path on Monday, May 14, 2012. The Pope- Baldwin Bike Path is located near the south end of Lake Tahoe and runs along Hwy. 89 for approximately three miles.

Repair work will include fixing cracks and holes and eliminating bumps. The repair project is intended to improve safety and accessibility, while increasing the trail's lifespan.

Gusty winds whipped through South Lake Tahoe Thursday afternoon, snapping trees into cars, homes and power lines. No injuries were reported.
The driver of a Subaru escaped injury after a tree slammed into her car as she was driving on Highway 50 near Sawmill Road at about 3 p.m.
The driver told authorities that she saw a large tree begin to fall but could not veer from the wesbound lane to the eastbound lane or else she would hit oncoming traffic. Damage to her car included a shattered windshield and smashed hood.

A South Lake Tahoe woman was taken into custody on Saturday afternoon after apparently firing a shot at a man inside a home in the 2600 block of Knox Street.
The man, who was not injured, reported to police that the woman shot at him during an argument and then locked herself in room filled with weapons and ammunition, according to police scanner traffic.

I understand that the South Lake Tahoe traffic engineers program the traffic lights for optimal traffic flow and safety, but why program the insane two-minute red light stops at 5:30 a.m.? During m...

Beginning in April the Nevada Highway Patrol will step up enforcement and crack down on residents who register their vehicles in other states.

INCLINE VILLAGE - Monday's citizen advisory board meeting will likely shed light on a controversial proposed East Shore traffic plan that officials say is needed to address a growing and dangerous ...

The caseload at the East Fork Township in Douglas County does not require an additional judge at this time, Justice of the Peace Tom Perkins has decided.
The announcement was made public in a news release sent Monday.
State law requires that an additional judge be added to the township when it reaches 34,000 in population. According to Nevada's demographer, the population of East Fork Township is 39,907. In a letter written to the Legislative Counsel Bureau, Judge Perkins said:

Douglas County law enforcement officers will hold several high-visibility traffic enforcement details during St. Patrick's Day celebrations, according to a Tuesday statement from the Sheriff's Offi...

On Feb. 29 the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) acted illegally in not analyzing the boat pollution impacts for over one thousand illegal boat mooring buoys in the lake and that it must do so before it can approve other lake development.

The appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that found proposed amendments to the shoreline development plan were invalid. Under the new ruling, TRPA will retain discretion in how it will conduct a new study of the impacts of legalizing these buoys.

With the approval earlier this month of regulations that allow the testing of driverless vehicles in Nevada, application packages will be available March 1 for companies wanting to apply their autonomous test vehicles.

Nevada’s Legislative Commission of the Department of Motor Vehicles approved regulations allowing the testing of driverless — a.k.a. “autonomous” — vehicles to be driven on the state’s roads, according to an announcement on Feb. 15.