August completion planned on latest two segments of South Tahoe Greenway

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Work has begun to finish two phases of the 3.86-mile long South Tahoe Greenway Shared-Use Trail (Greenway) that will connect Sierra Boulevard to the Van Sickle Bi-State Park near Stateline in South Lake Tahoe.

COVID put a delay on the project because the delivery of materials for the precast concrete boardwalk system was delayed. The Houston, Texas concrete plant contracted for the project had been directly impacted by the pandemic.

Worked started this week after the regulatory agencies (Lahontan Waterboard and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency) performed the pre-grade inspection and gave them the go-ahead to start.

Donaldo Palaroan, El Dorado County senior civil engineer and lead on the project said the target date for completion is the end of August 2021.

The project was approved in 2011 and 2016 and will provide users with a safe way to travel by non-motorized means off of the highway through the heart of South Lake Tahoe. The whole length will include neighborhood connectors and the ability to join the popular trail from the Y to past Baldwin Beach.

Phase 1b and 2 of the Greenway are the two scheduled for completion this year - over Trout Creek and through Bijou Park.

Phase 1a was completed in 2015 and extended a trail .42 miles between Herbert Avenue and Glenwood Way in the Bijou Neighborhood. In 2017 additional project drainage was infrastructure was constructed. That portion of the Greenway cost $921,230.

The new phase starts where 1a ended on Glenwood Way, goes through Bijou Park, across Al Tahoe Boulevard, and joins up with the existing trail by the Community Play Fields to Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC). The Greenway goes over Trout Creek on a steel truss bridge as the trail comes from LTCC to Meadow Crest Drive by South Tahoe Public Utility District and over to Martin Avenue. An elevated concrete boardwalk will span the floodplain and connect with the bridge on both sides.

The new bike bridge over Trout Creek will improve local street crossings by taking bicyclists and pedestrians off the street and will add interpretive/wayfinding signage along the way. Current foot and bike travel at Black Bart Avenue and Martin Avenue at the current bridge can be dangerous.

To accomplish the trail over Trout Creek, instead of along Martin Avenue and Black Bart Avenue, there were land swaps involving 79 acres between Lake Tahoe Community College, the City of South Lake Tahoe, and the California Tahoe Conservancy. The college also added $700,000 into the Greenway budget.

$5,899,000 has been budgeted for these two new phases and is funded by grants including Caltrans via an Active Transportation Grant and the California Tahoe Conservancy, a partner on the project.

To complete the Greenway, future phases will include Phases 1c, 3, and several neighborhood connectors. Future projects could extend the Greenway to Meyers. Plans and funding are still in the works.