Lake Tahoe road projects shut down for long holiday weekend

Submitted by paula on Fri, 06/30/2017 - 7:41pm

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE – With heavy traffic expected around Lake Tahoe this long holiday weekend, both California and Nevada highway departments are suspending their roadwork projects.

Caltrans’ construction projects in the City of South Lake Tahoe and along the West Shore of the lake wrapped up work this morning and won’t resume until after the Fourth of July holiday.

Caltrans is in the first year of a three-year project on U.S. Highway in South Lake Tahoe from the “Y” intersection with State Highway 89 to the Trout Creek Bridge. Work on the $57 million project includes a new drainage system to filter out pollutants from stormwater, rebuilding curbs, gutters and sidewalks, widening the highway to provide 6-foot shoulders, and resurfacing.

It’s Caltrans’ final project as part of the multi-agency Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program. Work could resume by Wednesday, July 5 at 8:00 p.m. but likely won’t start again until Thursday morning, July 6.

Caltrans is in the final few weeks on another water-quality improvement project on Highway 89 from Tahoma to Tahoe City. The $70.1 million project started with preliminary work in 2012 and is scheduled to wrap up by the first week of August. New drainage systems, curbs and gutters have been constructed, the highway has been widened and resurfaced. The final half-mile of the nearly nine-mile project is being built in the Sunnyside area.

Work on the 89 project won’t resume until 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 9.

The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) also announced that work on its State Highway 28 shared-use path, water quality and safety project near Incline Village would halt for the holiday weekend as well, resuming Wednesday, July 5 at 6:00 a.m.

Motorists traveling to Lake Tahoe over the weekend or for the Fourth of July are encouraged to use Caltrans’ QuickMap at quickmap.dot.ca.gov or download the QuickMap app on iTunes or Google Play for real-time traffic conditions and estimated travel times. Motorists also can use the California Highway Information Network automated phone service by calling 1-800-427-ROAD (7623). Travelers can text “TahoeRoads” to 99000 to opt in to receiving text message updates on travel conditions in the South Lake Tahoe area.