Trail to put cyclists-walkers along waters’s edge
Lake Tahoe’s multitude of colors can be seen where the Incline trail will go. Photos/Kathryn Reed
By Kathryn Reed
INCLINE VILLAGE – It’s possible people won’t be able to pedal the Incline Village to Sand Harbor bike trail that is slated to break ground next summer.
And it has nothing to do with the grade – that is expected to be no more than 5 percent. Nor even the length to begin with – it will be three miles when this demonstration plot is finished in what could be 2016.
It’s the views that may keep people from progressing far at once. People likely will be pulling over to snap photo after photo.
From the road this windy stretch of Highway 28 looks like it could fall into Lake Tahoe. The truth is there is a wide swath of land before reaching the water – and not just in drought years. This is where the bike path is going to be built.
The Incline section is one small part of what eventually will be the 30-mile Stateline-to-Stateline Bike Path. It will encompass all of Nevada at the lake. The even larger plan is to have a path around the entire lake.
The first phase of the Stateline-to-Stateline trail was completed in 2013 with 2.2 miles that go from Rabe Meadow in Stateline to Round Hill Pines Beach.
This past summer the Tahoe Fund launched a fundraising drive to secure $750,000 to help leverage $12 million in public dollars for the project as well as put some aside for a future endowment fund for maintenance. Tahoe Transportation District is the lead agency to get the trail built, but this section would be Nevada State Parks responsibility for upkeep.
The trail will mean not having to walk along the highway.
The nonprofit raised the money in seven weeks. The 16 vista points ranged from $15,000 to $100,000 depending on size and access. Those with more modest budgets can still donate $100 to have recognition at the start of the trail, and donors will also be recognized at kiosks at different locations.
Near where Tunnel Creek Café sits today will be the addition of 90 parking places. Already a bike trail exists on Lakeshore Drive. Eventually the Stateline trail will go to Crystal Bay.
The section breaking ground in May will head from the café on the mountain side. Where the actual Tunnel Creek flows is where cyclists/walkers will cross Highway 28 – either underground or via a bridge. This is about one mile from the café. People will be adjacent to the lake the rest of the way to Sand Harbor.
Amy Berry, CEO of the Tahoe Fund, said, “It’s like building a highway alongside the highway.”
This is because it will be 10-feet wide, entails potential over and underpasses, cantilever bridges, grades to meet American with Disabilities Act rules, signs and other necessities. Plus, building at Tahoe – and so close to the water – requires hurdles to be leaped before contractors are hired.
Scenery will be a main draw to this route.
People will be walking or riding at a level that is lower than the state highway. And while this may sound noisy, the normal passenger car just made a hum on a recent morning. The beauty, even on a smoky day, could not be interrupted or derailed by anything above.
There will still be spots for motorists to stop, like at Memorial Point.
Stairs descend from the road to the water. Not all of these will be saved or in their same configuration when the trail is built. Besides getting people from Point A to Point B, the route is designed to stop people from parking on the narrow highway, reduce accidents, improve the environment and get people closer to Lake Tahoe. Estimates are that 100,000 people will use this trail once it is in the ground.
“It is a trail that takes you someplace, but the journey is the destination,” Berry said.
This is one of the most exciting developments for Tahoe. Thank you to all who are helping make this possible. A safe bike path on the perimeter of the lake is a dream.
A parking lot and a bridge over the HWY? It’s about time these people woke up to the fact that until bicycles grow wings people need a way to get them here.
sunriser2, you have hit on one of the big lies of the bike people. Well done. They perceive themselves as being environmentally superior to the general population but drive around in SUVs with bike racks… I don’t for one second think that they will stay off the road, no matter how much we spend on their tiny minority. I’m not against bicycling, but the amount of money that has been spent for “bike trails” is so completely out of line with their population that it has become absurd to consider more, IMHO. If only they would show some common courtesy. Just yesterday, two guys riding in my neighborhood, side by side, refused to let two cars pass. They just pedaled along, oblivious to their effect on traffic, glaring at the two cars as we had to stop to avoid running them over.
If bike trails are built, it should be a VC violation to ride on the roadway adjacent to the trail.
Tell me this means “NO” bicycles on Hwy 28. If not, it’s a waste of money!!!
Exactly, Sam.
Dumfounded,
And just a few days ago a cyclist was hit by a driver. Does that mean drivers are all drunk and should be kept off the road? Of course not. All those evil SUVs are bringing money into an area that exists because of tourist money and all that gas is paying the taxes to build and maintain the road you are driving on.
They should keep within the new three foot rule from the curb. NOT from what ever distance they decide to ride away from it. Bikes vs. autos=bad biker, and broken bike.
Taxpayer i believe you may have miss understood the new law its not that they must stay 3 ft from the curb but rather cars must stay 3 ft from cyclist, major difference. Though i maybe wrong about them and the curb but i couldnt find anything about the curb law, and this is only in Cali and this article is about Nevada.
Lisa has it nailed.
Bike paths are not being entirely honestly portrayed.
Far from a primary intent of making Tahoe a bikeable, walkable area to live, they are being created to attract bikers in warm seasons in the the same way as ski areas attract skiers.
And, it is spun so it sounds sustainable and green and those other popular buzz words. But the writeups only hint at the fact that it is a warm season only activity for the most part.
Tourists will come spend money and patronize Tahoe’s businesses when they can’t ski.
Tahoe residents can also enjoy the bike paths in their appropriate season.
The three foot rule discussed, is for cars to stay at least three feet from bicyclists, no matter if there is a bike lane or no bike lane. An attempt to legislate common sense.
I also ride a road bike around Tahoe, and there are places I will not go because of motorists not paying attention to others,especially bikes, due to the fact the car drivers are looking at the lake or the scenery. Hwy 89 near emerald bay is one awful, dangerous place for bicycles.
While I am writing, it is also worth mentioning that bikes on bike lanes on edges of roadways or on roads which have no bike lanes should not ride any way except single file. This should be law,(except for passing).
What arrogant idiots the ones are who ride side by side in a narrow bike lane, while expecting vehicles, especially large trucks, trailers, buses and motor homes to adhere to the three foot distance from bicyclists.
In the a “practice day” before the last bike event in Tahoe, near the intersection of Pioneer trail and Al Tahoe, 3 of 5 bikers both men and women riding fast, eastbound in a tight pack, drafting each other erratically, swerved 6 or 8 feet left, out of the bike lane, forcing me to lock up my brakes to avoid hitting them. No room for me to go into the left oncoming lane due to traffic. Guess what the bikers did???
Yes, you are correct if you guessed that they screamed obscenities at me, and flipped the well known bird. Which, by the way, further caused bike control problems since the flippers were no longer holding the handle bars with both hands while trying to maneuver.
A true near- Darwin moment.
There is a lot of misconception about what cars and bikes are allowed to do and actually do. I come at this as someone who drives 25,000 plus miles a year (an SUV with bike racks) a lot of those on mountain roads throughout the state and west plus rides several thousand miles a year (for example, I have ridden around the lake twice in Sept and was slated to do it three times until the Great Bike Classic race was cancelled last weekend – bummer). The vast majority of drivers (my self included) violate several traffic laws daily, by speeding, passing in unsafe ways, rolling stops, etc. I was waiting for my wife in Woodside one day (at Roberts Market), a place that the sheriffs are famous for handing out tickets to cyclists who blow through the stop sign. Given her propensity for being late, I had some time to run a 20 minute count – over 80% of the cars rolled through the stop sign and less the 25% of the cyclist did during that period of time (had a fair number of both come through). Now cyclist also violate traffic laws. Some blow through stop signs, ride double file when they shouldn’t, jump out in front of cars without proper hand signals or do so when it is not safe, etc.
As a driver, I am acutely aware of cyclists and always give the deference (as I are one) when overtaking them, even if they are riding erratically or stupidly. I have on occasion while passing suggested that they might ride more single file so as to protect themselves, doing so civilly. I drive to Truckee a fair amount, and my trips are slowed far more by “tourists” site-seeing while driving then by waiting for a safe place to pass cyclist.
As a cyclist, while I roll through stop signs from time to time, I have a hard and fast rule, I will never take the right-of-way from a car, pedestrian or fellow cyclist, in those cases I come to a complete stop, just as I do at any signal light. While I at times ride side by side (shoulder from Tahoe City to Truckee is cvery wide for instance) I always ride single file on narrow roads (Emerald Bay for example) with traffic. I do as the law allows, I ride as far to the right as it is safe, sometimes that means being further out in the lane, something that a driver who never rides do not always get.
So essentially, sharing the road is not all that hard, and requires drivers and cyclist to be courteous, civil and above all safe. Even when cyclist are being stupid or careless, I have absolutely no interest in hitting one as I (nor they) need to deal with the trauma associated with such incidents. Guess what is it not all that hard to do.
An example of a sad individual with no life, I rode the Tour de Tahoe Sept 7, and coming back through Zephry Cover, a guy in a beat up econo box was driving back and forth yelling idiot at passing cyclist. All I can say is that he had a poor upbringing.
Rick
Dumbfounded and Sam. You took the words right out of my mouth!
+1 to both of you.
What strange comments based on the actual content of this post.
Thanks for an update on the progress of this trail. It will definitely be a highly valued addition to the lake.