Echo Summit closure surprises Amgen crew
By Andria Borba, FOX 40
ECHO SUMMIT— Day one of the two week road closure has left Highway 50 eerily quiet.
A one mile section of the rock wall separating the road from the plunging canyon below is in bad shape, patched in some place by sandbags.
The signs west of Echo Summit say ‘OPEN’, but there are few customers. At Silver Fork Gas Station, in six hours only four people pulled up to the pumps that are packed during ski season. “This is the slow season. now no business, no customers, complete none. So, we have hard time for the next two weeks,” said owner Mike Choi. In fact, Choi says if the dismal business keeps up, he’s going to take a break, “I’m thinking about it, maybe tomorrow, maybe the next two weeks, I’m going to close.”
It seems the massive “Way to Tahoe” campaign sponsored by Caltrans didn’t reach everyone. A support truck from the Amgen Tour of California headed to South Lake Tahoe was turned around, unaware the road was closed.