Letter: Frustrated with traffic in neighborhoods

Publisher’s note: Moya Sanders, who lives in the unincorporated  area of El Dorado County in the basin, asked for the following exchange to be published.

To Whom It May Concern,

I live on North Upper Truckee Road leading from South Lake Tahoe to Highway 50 going south toward Placerville. The chain control on Highway 50 at the south end of Meyers is being bypassed by the cars going this way. The traffic enters Highway 50 above the chain control area going up Echo Summit when it exits North Upper Truckee Road at the south end. This is a problem on North Upper Truckee Road because none of the side streets is plowed, so traffic stops in the middle of the road to chain up, causing accidents and backing up traffic.

Also there must be some liability to Caltrans or the city, if a car crashes on Echo Summit or can’t move up the hill because they have no chains on even when they are required. There are no signs at the South Lake Tahoe city end of this road by the Y or by the only turn to put you back on Highway 50 at Sawmill Road. Not even a sign stating that there is no chain up areas on this road, or that the road is very windy and steep and dangerous covered in snow.

Response:

Thank you for your email. I have cc’d our county roads department. This is a serious problem that has no easy answer. The biggest problems are the new apps on cell phones and cars that tell drivers about our backroad access areas. In response to the issue, I convened a meeting last winter of all agencies including CHP, county roads department and sheriff, city of SLTPD, Lake Valley FD, the Tahoe Chamber and LTVA. We looked at several possible solutions, but could not come up with a completely adequate answer to this problem.

CHP stated that they would step up patrols for chain control — they are the only agency allowed to put up controls on any roads — when they had available manpower. Since the roads are public, our sheriff can not close roads to only locals or create roadblocks.

LTVA and the chamber have tried to help by asking lodging properties to stagger check-out times and promote extra nights during busy holiday travel.

The app manufacturers have been asked to change/delete/add warnings in their apps to alert drivers, but no one has received a response from this group to my knowledge.

I have asked and continue to seek any and all suggestions and would be happy to pass on anything that might help. We will continue to work on this problem.

Thank you again for your email,
Sincerely,
Sue Novasel, EDC supervisor District V