Network of Lake Tahoe bike trails increasing
By Kathryn Reed
TAHOE CITY – Piece-by-piece agencies in the basin are putting together a comprehensive bike trail system with the goal of eventually being able to ride a bike around Lake Tahoe on something other than a state highway.
At this month’s California Tahoe Conservancy meeting the board awarded $500,000 to the Tahoe City Public Utility District to build a one-mile section in Homewood that will link Tahoe City with Sugar Pine Point State Park.
TCPUD has 22 miles of trails that are well used. It’s estimated 400,000 people are on the paths each year. And there are only 7,000 permanent residents in the area.
Today cyclists must ride next to traffic in Homewood. That will change next summer. Photo/LTN
Most of the new trail will be Class 1, meaning it will be separated from traffic. It will be 8-feet-wide, with 2-foot shoulders. Part of the trail will be Class 3, meaning next to a vehicle lane. This is when it veers off Highway 89 and goes onto San Souci Terrace.
A new bridge will also be built to cross Madden Creek.
The plan is for the trail to be constructed on the west side of the highway in 2014. This will be concurrent with a Caltrans water quality project.
The total cost of this one mile is $1,557,970. The North Lake Tahoe Resort Association has contributed $600,000, the Tahoe Fund $34,375 and Placer County $25,000. The remaining nearly $400,000 is expected to come from a grant, additional county park fees or TCPUD capital funds.
The trail will be striped in front of Homewood Mountain Resort. If JMA Ventures, the property owner, redevelops the resort, then it would be mandated to put in a more formal bike path to complement what will be constructed next summer.
Also on Sept. 19, the CTC board agreed to award Placer County $500,000 for it to buy a 19.5-acre parcel from NV Energy that will be used for the Dollar Creek Shared-Use Trail project.
The 2.2-mile section of trail will tie into the TCPUD’s 22 miles of trails on one end and to Kings Beach on the other.
Connections beyond the parcel that was just bought will involve the U.S. Forest Service because that is where its ownership begins.
Larry Sevison, board chairman, said Northstar is interested in creating a loop that would link up with the newly acquired property.
There is also a cross country ski resort that abuts the parcel.
“We are talking to the ski center. There is a bridge crossing Dollar Creek that could be upsized for their groomer,” Jon Mitchell with Placer County told the board.
This means the trail could become accessible year-round.
The first priority is to get the trail built and then land ownership will be discussed. CTC, Placer County, California State Parks and North Tahoe Public Utility District all own a slice of where the trail will go.
The entire network of trails helped the North Lake Tahoe area in May to receive the League of American Bicyclists’ bronze level Bicycle Friendly Community.
No one who is riding the 72 miles around Lake Tahoe is going to use a “bike trail”. If you are riding 15-25 mph it is much more dangerous to be on the “dog walking and baby carting” trail than it is to be on the road.
What we really need to make Tahoe a bicycle friendly community is more class 3 routes. Like the stretch from the high school to Tahoe Mtn Road. A separate trail there would be expensive and rarely used when all that is needed is striping a lane and a “share the road” sign. Now that the speed limit is 55mph, the high school kids and construction workers can race their cages even faster. Does someone need to be killed first?
What would be phenomenal would be a bike trail along the shoreline from Meeks Bay to Spring Creek, enabling cyclists to avoid riding 89 around Emerald Bay.
Maybe bicyclists who want to go fast shouldn’t go where “dog walking and baby carting” is going on. Maybe bicyclists who want to go that fast should go where there isn’t traffic congestion, like highway 88 in Hope Valley. If you want to engage in dangerous activity, please use risk mitigation techniques and stop complaining about cars using roads that were built (and paid for) to be used by cars. IMHO, the concept of “share the road” is very literally a two-way street.
I think what Old Road Cleats wants is a good five foot wide shoulder on our roads for road bikers that ride fast. I have ridden around the lake a few times and Road Cleats is correct about that. Road bikes riding 15 mph can’t safely mix with the tourists on bike trails. What is needed is a good five foot wide shoulder for the serious road bike riders. I totally agree with you too Squawllywood. The tourists love to ride gently around the lake taking in the views. We could boast the most beautiful bike experience in the world if we had a trail that circled Emerald Bay without mixing with the highway traffic. The tourists would love this, and it would become a famous ride. Could this be done, is the question ? It would be difficult to get around the steep terrain and into Emerald Bay. Such a bike trail should connect to the present bike trails coming from the north and south. Can this be done ?
And I would like a separate road for me to enjoy riding my motorcycle without any danger from bicycles or cars… but can the cost be justified?
Skate boarders have right too!! I want my own lane.
These people wont be happy until they get that bike bridge across Emerald Bay.
I am sure I could nitpic at this plan in many ways, But something is being done. It benefits us all.
as some have commented, yes there are some who want to do the 72 mile round the lake on a road bike at speed (They will use existing roads) but there are sooo many who just want to putter and take in the sights.
i look forward seeing what type of bike friendly retail pop up along these bike ways?
And how snow removal is managed in the spring
Well, DOT is bent on running a Class I bike trail in front of our house: they will cut down 3 – hundred year old Jeffrey pines, as well as a beautiful beech tree, also our roadside landscaping, then put an ugly iron barrier on the road side of our adjacent property–making access to the meadow & river for horseback riders and rafters impossible. The bike trail will run right by our front windows so there goes our privacy and property value. Now the State/DOT is trying to convince Sierra Pacific to move all the power poles to the other side of the street…I thought CA was broke! A cheaper solution would be to make a Class 3 on the opposite side of the street.