Loop road, redevelopment ideas shaping up

TTD Executive Director Carl Hasty explains how the portion in red is land that needs to be acquired, while the blue are would be repurposed if the loop road goes through. Photo/LTN

TTD Executive Director Carl Hasty explains how the portion in red is land that needs to be acquired, while the blue area would be repurposed if the loop road goes through. Photo/LTN

By Kathryn Reed

INCLINE VILLAGE — Douglas County is all-in when it comes to the loop road on the South Shore. A portion of the recently approved gas tax will be going toward the Highway 50 realignment.

Tahoe Transportation District officials are tweaking some of the five alternatives to be studied in the environmental impact statement. The first draft is expected out the first quarter of 2016.

Carl Hasty, TTD executive director, told his board on Nov. 13 that meetings have been taking place with property owners that would be affected by changing the alignment of Highway 50 in the state line area.

Three of the five alternatives call for a four-lane highway behind Harrah’s-MontBleu, with the current highway from about Pioneer Trail to Lake Parkway becoming a city-county street.

Housing is being proposed in the area for the residents who would be displaced.

“We are fine-tuning what is in the development,” Hasty said.

He said with tourist accommodation units being able to be converted to commercial floor area and residential units this opens up opportunities.

Money is in hand to get through the environmental studies. Construction dollars are easier to get once the EIS is done.

Douglas County commissioners heard the presentation earlier this month and South Lake Tahoe City Council will next month.

“We want to do it. We are putting in a redevelopment area there too,” Nancy McDermid said. She is the Douglas County commissioner who sits on the TTD board. “We just hope the city comes through because they are the key to this happening.”

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Notes:

·      On Dec. 1 at 5:30pm there will be a public workshop regarding the loop road at Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel in South Lake Tahoe.

·      South Lake Tahoe City Council will hear a presentation on the loop road status on Dec. 7. The meeting starts at 9am at Lake Tahoe Airport.