Advocating for Our Community During Major Infrastructure Projects

As our community is well aware, CalTrans’ planned road construction projects in Tahoe City are underway. Over the past few weeks, during the midst of our region’s busy summer season, parking availability through the downtown corridor was essentially unavailable and negatively impacting our community.

To address the multitude of impacts, the NTCA and Supervisor Gustafson co-convened a meeting with CalTrans officials, county staff, and Assembly member Hadwick’s staff to share our business community’s concerns and the economic impacts experienced by our business community during mid-summer.

As a result of the meeting, cones restricting parking throughout Tahoe City were immediately removed, returning parking to normal. In addition, CalTrans, in coordination with their sub contractor, agreed to adjust the timing of the work underway in an effort to reduce impacts to area businesses and our community for the remainder of the summer.

As a direct result of this coordinated advocacy, the revised CalTrans work schedule now includes:

• Work will resume in Tahoe City the week of August 17

• Night work only will occur through the end of August, with project stages that require daytime work to occur after Labor Day

• The Wye project is being placed on hold until after the Fanny Bridge project is complete given the complexities of that project and potential impacts to the wye

The collaboration among organizations and our elected officials to achieve these results is a testament to the great work that can be achieved together on behalf of our businesses and community.

Looking Ahead

To influence the timing of future projects and plan in advance for any potential impacts, the collective group inquired about the best way to know in advance what projects are planned.

CalTrans representatives confirmed that an environmental review process occurs for each project they implement. The NTCA plans to monitor the CalTrans projects coming forward for environmental review in our region. The public comment period during that process will be used as an opportunity to convene discussions, with the intention of providing feedback on economic and other impacts planned projects may have on our community (i.e. how projects affect school bus delays, etc.).