City of South Lake Tahoe to spend over $4.8 million on road projects in 2024

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The City of South Lake Tahoe will be spending over $4.8M on its road rehabilitation projects this year.

There are 257 lanes miles of roads in the city limits. To fix them all it would cost $225M, but that is far above the budget so the Public Works department will start on these areas in 2024:

The main project will be a 4" mill and overlay on Keller and Saddle roads - 4.85 lane miles for $2.6M. The road there is currently low-rated and in need of attention.

$2.26M will be used with additional grant funds on other areas including the Pioneer Trail Project 2 from Larch Ave. to Ski Run Blvd., and the Tahoe Valley Project completion.

The Ash Avenue project will be done in-house for $85,000. 3" mill and overlay on .1 lane mile. A place for the City to start with new equipment they purchased.

The integrity of pavement is measured by their pavement condition index (PCI). Good is 70-100 and the roads would need maintenance at the most, a score of 50-70 is fair, and the roads would need minor overlays. A score of 25-50 is poor and major overlaps would be needed and the bottom, 0-25 are failed and they would need reconstruction.

In South Lake Tahoe, 31 percent of the roads are considered "good," 22 percent as "fair," 37 percent are "poor" and 10 percent have "failed." This means 47 percent of the local roads (non-highway) need major structural repair.

Funds for the roads come from multiple sources - annual taxes including Measure S provides $2.5M a year, and California gas taxes provide $533K, and utility reimbursement (in-lieu fees). In the last six years, the City has fully refurbished 7.75 miles and rehabilitated 14.75 lane miles.

The Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition asked the City to prioritize both Dunlap Drive and Palmira Avenue due to their low quality, especially for cyclists using those two streets as connectors.

When deciding what streets to do each year, Public Works looks at PCI, where utilities will be cutting into the pavement, where they were the previous year, and if those areas need to be wrapped up.

The Council approved the 2024 Road Rehabilitation Program.