Officials working to eliminate traffic jams by Sand Harbor
By Susan Voyles, Reno Gazette-Journal
On a typical summer day, more than 3,000 people — most of them from Northern Nevada — jam into Sand Harbor State Park on the East Shore of Lake Tahoe.
A long line of vehicles clogs Nevada 28 as motorists wait to pay to enter the park. They park, sometimes illegally, on the side of the road and then walk along the edge of the narrow, two-lane highway.
With the roadway cut between steep slopes, boulders and cliffs, there is simply no place else for people to walk or park. The crowded highway has gotten to the point where park and transportation officials are going to take action by next summer to make the route safer.
“People walk along the highway with coolers, kids and dogs. It’s really no safe place to walk,” said Karen Mullen, a planning consultant for the Tahoe Transportation District and a former Washoe County parks director.
Motorists, including emergency vehicles, can be blocked from heading south on the highway.
“It’s very dangerous,” she said. “Everybody is getting together and working on solutions.”