SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Certain segments of U.S. 50 and State Route 89 have seen almost 20 fatalities in the span of 10 years and 229 minor injury and property damage accidents. The City of South Lake Tahoe and Caltrans are looking into how to make these segments safer.

These numbers are according to a Road Safety Audit prepared in October and presented to City Council on March 12. The City, Caltrans, community members and other organizations, including law enforcement, fire, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and hired consultant, DKS Associates, identified three road segments with 10 locations of concern.

Participants of the two day Road Safety Audit workshops on October 2-3, 2023, conducted field stops at each of these locations.

Segment 1 runs 1.7 miles along U.S. 50 from Lisa Maloff Way, near the airport, to the U.S. 50 and SR 89 intersection. A 1.8 mile section of U.S. 50 from the U.S. 50/SR 89 intersection to Blue Lake Avenue comprises Segment 2. The one mile from the U.S. 50/SR 89 intersection on SR 89 to the city limit near West Way makes up Segment 3.

In addition to identifying mobility problems, they proposed improvements in time tiered phases of short term, medium, and long term. Most of the safety improvements are pedestrian and bicycle focused, but some proposals include speed reductions that could reduce vehicle collisions.

Within the scope of short term solutions implemented within 1-2 years are re-striping and painting Class II bike lanes, green bike lanes, public outreach for preferred pedestrian crossing locations, and flashing radar beacons. Pilot projects for 35 miles-per-hour speed controls is also on the list.

Medium term goals within 2-5 years include road diet feasibility pilot projects to test the reduction of five lanes to three with buffered bike lanes. If found feasible, road diet plans could be implemented in long-term goals of five plus years.

Other medium term projects include installing the pedestrian crossings decided on during the short term phase’s public outreach, study for a fourth pedestrian crossing at Tahoe Keys, and restricting right-turn-on-red at signal intersections.

Long-term improvements are bike lanes and trail connections to the airport and City Hall, further studies, pedestrian scale lighting and construction of a short bi-directional Class I bike trail in front of TJ-Maxx at the U.S. 50 and SR 89 intersection.

Although she supports most of the improvements, Councilmember Tamara Wallace expressed concerns about the road diet reducing five lanes to three. She referenced the recent incident when Interstate 80 closed and traffic was redirected to U.S. 50, worrying lane reductions will create bottlenecks. Wallace also believes reducing speeds to 35 miles-per-hour is not enough and proposed 25-30 miles-per-hour.

City Manager Joe Irvin and Mayor Pro Tem John Friedrich clarified this audit is a jump off point and many concerns can be addressed in the future and may require future studies.

Council passed a motion approving the Road Safety Audit study.

Now that Caltrans has City Council comments, they plan on finalizing the study by the end of this month. The agency then hopes to have a joint meeting with the City and Caltrans this summer to discuss funding for the different term projects. Caltrans also plans to asses the short-term improvements and discuss timing for the upgrades with the City.

Council also approved this year’s Road Rehabilitation Program. This year, roads receiving improvements are segments of Saddle and Keller Road through contracted work, costing $2.6 million. The City will be doing some work this year in-house on Ash Avenue with equipment purchased through Measure S funds. The costs of this project is $85,000.

City Resident Engineer Mark Frisina estimates $225 million is needed to get remaining city roads in good condition. Once in good condition according to the Pavement Condition Index standards, roads only require maintenance work, which is much cheaper, allowing funds to go further, Frisina explained to Council. However, only 31% of city roads are in good condition; 22% are fair, 37% are poor and 10% are considered failed.

Measure S has provided the majority of road repair funding since approved by voters in 2020. It contributes about $2.5 million annually. Other funding sources include a gas tax, Southwest Gas and South Tahoe Public Utility District in-lieu fees.

Last year the City used a little over $3 million to pave around four miles, Frisina said.

Councilmember Scott Robbins calculated at that rate, it would take 73 years to do paving, “we are still falling behind.” Although he notes less than the City used to.

However, Wallace pointed out that the City’s average Pavement Condition Index is 57%. That’s on a scale of 1-100 with failed status at 0-25, poor from 25-50, fair from 50-70, and good from 70-100.

Wallace asked what the average was seven years ago and what a good average is for a community. According to Frisina, it was in the forties seven years ago and a good average PCI for a community is above 70. Wallace asked, “So in six years we could be up in the seventies?” To which Frisina responded, “correct.”

Nick Speal provided public comment on behalf of the Lake Tahoe Bike Coalition, requesting the City make certain street locations a priority for bicyclist safety. Those roads included Dunlap Drive and Palmira Avenue, what he described are arteries for bikes.

Frisina explained the annual rehabilitation plans are determined by road Pavement Condition Index numbers, utility projects, staff knowledge of problem areas and clustering projects to increase cost efficiency.

Robbins inquired how to include bicyclist utilization into the yearly decision.

Public Works Director Anush Nejad said the comments received today would be important in identifying needs and agreed requirements for bikes should be incorporated into the evaluation.

You can review the full Road Rehabilitation and Road Safety Audit linked on March 12’s meeting agenda on the City of South Lake Tahoe’s website.