Crews work to remove vehicle-sized boulder that slid onto Highway 50 near Lake Tahoe
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Mon, 02/06/2017 - 9:49am
UPDATE 1:40PM: The Nevada Department of Transportation has removed the large boulder that fell this morning, blocking one eastbound lane of U.S. 50 in Lake Tahoe. No vehicles were involved in the slide, and no injuries were reported.
The rock fall occurred just south of Logan Creek Drive in the Logan Shoals area. Nevada Highway Patrol, Nevada Department of Transportation and other safety agencies immediately responded.
NDOT contracted Sierra Nevada Construction, Inc. to utilize specialty large equipment to remove the boulder Monday afternoon. Now that the boulder has been removed, the roadway surface will be evaluated to determine if impacted sections of roadway need to be repaved. All lanes of U.S. 50 are anticipated to reopen this afternoon, but minor lane closures and travel delays are to be expected as final roadway repairs are made over the coming days. NDOT reminds motorists to drive safely in the area, and plan additional travel time.
“As winter weather continues, we will also be performing ongoing snow removal,” NDOT District Engineer Thor Dyson said in a news release. “We ask drivers to use caution and drive safely.”
With traffic safety as top priority, NDOT has dedicated approximately $15 million to enhancing traffic safety by stabilizing roadside slopes to reduce rockslide and other erosion in U.S. 50 at Tahoe.
The majority of U.S. 50 roadside slopes in the Glenbrook area have already been stabilized with rockfall netting or reinforced roadside slopes or have barrier rail/wall built at the bottom to contain and collect erosion-related rockfall. Last year, NDOT also extended the westbound, lakeside Cave Rock tunnel entrance. The new approximately 60-foot long and 27-foot tall structure extends the previous tunnel to enhance safety by catching rock fall before it reaches the roadway.
NDOT is also developing an improvement project to stabilize and reinforce the roadside slope where the slide occurred to reduce future rockfall onto the roadway.
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With the ground saturated by a combination of rain and snow, a vehicle-sized boulder slid into a portion of the eastbound lane of Highway 50 at Lake Tahoe near Logan Creek on Monday morning causing some traffic delays.
The Nevada Highway Patrol advises some delays as work crews are removing the slide, which happened sometime after 7 a.m. No injuries were reported. The eastbound lane was partially blocked by the slide, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation.
A series of storms will impact the Carson City and Sierra region this week with strong winds, periods of heavy mountain snow, and heavy rainfall, according to the National Weather Service.
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