Then and now: Cave Rock changes Hwy. 50

Known originally as The Great Road, then Lincoln Highway, and now as Highway 50, one of its biggest challenges was getting around Cave Rock on Lake Tahoe’s Nevada shoreline.

Rocks and timbers comprised a trestle built in the 1860s.

A vehicle on the trestle. Photo/Lake Tahoe Historical Society

Cave Rock trestle in the 1860s. Photo/California State Library

This single-lane structure edged its way around Cave Rock for nearly 70 years before work began on a tunnel which opened in 1931.

People used to drive around Cave Rock. Photo/Lake Tahoe Historical Society

A second tunnel was completed in 1957  to accommodate the new four-lane Highway 50 between Carson City and Stateline, with the original tunnel serving the westbound traffic lanes.

The tunnel in 1932. Photo/Lake Tahoe Historical Society

— Bill Kingman

Present day Cave Rock. Photo/Bill Kingman