Letter: Alternative to the loop road

Publisher’s note: This letter was sent to the South Lake Tahoe City Council and Lake Tahoe News.

At a recent meeting, I believe I heard that two-thirds of the traffic on Highway 50 drives through the casino corridor without stopping.

Les Wright

I mentioned my suggestion before at two meetings that I attended: that we need a Plan F that would tunnel under existing Highway 50 between Tahoe Meadows and just past the new roundabout by the Edgewood Golf Course. Through traffic would go underground and get out of town quickly. Develop a round about at Park Avenue as well as the other end by Edgewood Golf Course.

Advantages:

1. Noise, air and visual pollution of two-thirds of the drive-through traffic goes underground.
2. Local traffic uses existing loop roads at Park Avenue and Edgewood Golf Course area to enter casinos and other businesses.
3. Have no surface auto traffic between the casinos, which would make that area a true pedestrian mall.
4. No need to tear out existing housing to create the five-lane highway around the casinos.
5. No expense for condemnation and legal fees to obtain the right-of-way of the new five-lane highway.
6. Relocation problem for residents from proposed new highway goes away.
7. Redevelopment of same so called blighted area is handled by the city of South Lake Tahoe on their timeline.
8. The two states and federal government pay the cost as it is all a state/federal highway.

I believe this is the best solution visually, environmentally, as well as legally the easiest. And it would get done sooner.

The cost would be high and the down time would be hard on the casino core, but the results would be entirely more satisfying to all concerned.

Perhaps excavation of Highway 50 could take place the same time they close Highway 50 over Echo Summit for this work.

Note the quick and efficient excavation work on the new freeway that bypasses Carson City that is just about done.

And in closing, the local public needs a say in these alternatives.

Les Wright, South Lake Tahoe