Paula Peterson
Many drivers plan ahead when planning their travel along highways in interstates across the county. Want to miss rush hour? Don’t hit that city in the morning and late afternoon. Mad dash to Santa Cruz on a warm Saturday? Leave early in the morning or go the night before to miss the backup of traffic.
Smooth travel over Highway 50 in the Sierra requires the same planning or one will get stuck in heavy traffic on Friday evenings heading to Lake Tahoe, or Sunday mornings leaving Lake Tahoe (or the day after a holiday).
The traffic along Highway 50 all winter has been problematic, especially when it has been snowing and drivers have to put on chains to get over the mountain. Drivers using smart phones to find out about shorter routes get caught in neighborhoods with step climbs and heavier snow, many times requiring a tow truck to pull them out. Locals have been unable to get around to work and the store due to the main artery through town full of weekend travelers trying to head out.
Solutions have been discussed and some are being implemented. Meetings will continue as well.
South Lake Tahoe City Manager Nancy Kerry recently wrote an email to Caltrans officials, asking for them to join both the City, the County and local law enforcement in developing solutions to end the gridlock in Meyers.
‘We need everyone’s attention to find methods to alleviate the traffic,” Kerry said i the email. “The impacts to our neighborhoods, impact to our roads, impacts to our community and residents and the impact to public safety, all demand we strive to find ways to reduce this reoccurring problem.”
Relocation of chain controls and placement of CHP officers on the side roads being used to circumvent the traffic are being discussed as are solutions in communicating to the traveler what the situation is, and then they can make the choice to “stay and play” in South Lake Tahoe longer, or change their arrival and departure days and time.
“The bottom line is, we need innovation, creativity, and the elimination of bureaucracy to get solutions implemented as soon as possible,” said Kerry to Caltrans.
The City has worked with Caltrans for years to get the three message boards they have in the City and Meyers to convey useful information to drivers. The boards show driving times to Pollock Pines, Placerville and Sacramento via information gathered from Bluetooth devices in the cars. Their arrival was celebrated just before the busy 4th of July weekend in 2015.
Since that time the message has not been consistent and replacement messages have shown up during 4th of July, Celebrity Golf, Labor Day and Thanksgiving, all heavy traffic times where the travel times would have been useful. Instead, Caltrans posted messages such as “Slow down, safe a life.” “Save Water, we’re in a drought,” and other information that, albeit valuable, doesn’t provide what City officials wanted when they were installed.
While long-term solutions are worked on by government, transportation and law enforcement agencies, the immediate solution is communication to the traveler. Visitors, hotels, motels, restaurants, recreation areas and others that serve the weekend guest can all log on to QuickMap and find out travel times instantly, or look at the cameras on their route to see the flow of vehicles. The City and Caltrans have worked together to provide a texting solution so people can plan their travel: Text TahoeRoads to 99000 and the information from QuickMap will be displayed. The City is also encouraging lodging properties to inform their guests of travel times, and to perhaps even try changing check-out times.
South Tahoe Now recently asked Steve Nelson of Caltrans several questions on the situation:
Is Caltrans committed to keeping travel times posted on their signs in South Lake Tahoe? Yes, we will keep travel times on the sign at the “Y” to the maximum extent possible. We are also working on having it fixed on QuickMap, so that even if we have to replace the travel times on the message board, they will still be available to the public via QuickMap. I think the sign in Meyers is valuable as well because there’s still the opportunity to turn around and go back into town.
Since many cameras as down in the Sierra, when is their replacement scheduled this year? The project to replace all 130 cameras in District 3 is in winter suspension and will resume this spring. It will be completed this fall. Unfortunately, the two cameras at Sierra-at-Tahoe are unreliable because they are solar-powered. The camera at Twin Bridges also has an issue with the power source. We have consistently had the cameras at Ski Run and Meyers operational this winter, however.
What ideas does Caltrans have to keep a better flow of traffic during chain controls? CHP and Caltrans Maintenance will be meeting to discuss possible ways to keep a better flow of traffic during chain controls.
Any conversation on the roundabout and how it would handle this type of standstill traffic? The roundabout is a safety project intended to decrease collisions at the intersection and isn’t intended to improve traffic flow during peak volumes. However, we’ve studied it and don’t believe the project will negatively impact the situation. The operation of the roundabout during heavy weekend traffic or during chain control operations is expected to remain the same as it is today.