Bottlenecked roads force emergency notices from City of South Lake Tahoe, Nevada governor
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Tue, 12/28/2021 - 9:37pm
UPDATE 10AM WEDNESDAY: Highway 50 West from South Carson Street to Stateline into Douglas County and South Lake Tahoe is open, according to NVroads.com. Chains are required; all vehicles except 4-wheel drive with snow tires.
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An emergency alert went out on smart phones Tuesday evening advising that Lake Tahoe area roads are at a standstill and that traffic on roadways will be turned around for safety reasons beginning at 8:30 p.m. It reopened Wednesday morning.
On Tuesday afternoon, City of South Lake Tahoe City Manager Joe Irvin activated the Emergency Operations Center to effectively manage the local impacts of the extreme weather and road conditions, according to a news release from the city.
Both US-50 West over Echo Summit and I-80 over Donner Pass have been closed, with openings Monday night and Tuesday afternoon. Highway 50 over Echo Summit opened late Monday night, while one lane, the eastbound lane of I-80 over Donner Pass opened Tuesday afternoon.
The westbound lane was opened to only essential commercial trucks and vehicles as of Tuesday evening. Permit loads and non-essential commercial trucks are not permitted to use the interstate at this time, according to Caltrans. I-80 was closed on Sunday and has remained so since Tuesday with the staggered afternoon and evening openings.
Over on Highway 50 has been a different story. While opened Monday night, a truck jackknifed over Highway 50 Tuesday morning, plus several accidents and spinouts forced much of the backups experienced late Tuesday morning into Tuesday evening. Thousands of motorists, hoping to get to the other side of the Sierra were in the bottleneck Tuesday morning and into the evening.
The South Lake Tahoe news release states the following:
Due to the restricted roadways, a number of resources are at or near capacity, including gas, tow trucks, and lodging accommodations. With the highways also at capacity, there are significant delays in travel time. Anyone on the road risks getting stranded either from the road conditions or running out of fuel or electric charge, requiring emergency or other assistance. Emergency vehicles, snowplows, and their staff are challenged with getting through the traffic, so assistance may also be delayed. Those driving an electric vehicle are encouraged to check online resources for the nearest charging stations.
Because of road conditions and limited ability to get supplies, all resources within the City are currently limited and will likely remain so until conditions improve. For road conditions or local accommodation needs, do not contact 911 or local dispatch. Check road conditions at https://roads.dot.ca.gov/, http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov and nvroads.com.
Also, on Tuesday night Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak declared he intends to issue a state of emergency related to the snow and storm conditions impacting Northern Nevada. The following is from a news release sent by the Governor's Office.
Due to the continued winter storm, Highway 50, Highway 207 (Kingsbury Grade) and Highway 28 are experiencing very long delays, dangerous road conditions and an oncoming storm Tuesday evening. State officials, including the Nevada Department of Transportation, Division of Emergency Management and Nevada State Police need to be able to clear roadways to make room for emergency vehicles and snow removal.
The State of Emergency declaration will allow State officials to order cars on those highways to turn around and head back into the valley until weather conditions subside and the roadways are safe to use. This will help prevent motorists from becoming stranded overnight on the roadways, potentially running out of gas in subfreezing temperatures without access to emergency services.
“I want to thank all of our emergency responders for working diligently through trying weather conditions to keep our roadways and travelers safe,” Gov. Sisolak said. “We need all those who are on the roadways to turn around and head back to safe shelter so our emergency responders can continue their work.”
Due to the pressing nature of the issue, the Governor is declaring the emergency now and the fully executed declaration of emergency will be available once signed by the Governor and Secretary of State.
