Caltrans planning for 2017 construction season

While Caltrans is done with road work in the Lake Tahoe Basin for now, the transportation department will be back in 2017.

Next season will mark the start of Caltrans’ final major water quality project as part of the Lake Tahoe environmental improvement program. The project is on Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe from the Y to Trout Creek. It’s expected to be completed in 2019.

Work also will begin in earnest next season on a Federal Highway Administration Central Federal Lands Highway Division project that will build a new bridge over the Truckee River in Tahoe City, replace the existing Fanny Bridge, and convert a portion of Highway 89 into a complete street design that will be relinquished to Placer County after construction.

The project, which will include three new roundabouts, is scheduled to be done in summer 2018. The $30.1 million construction contract, which also includes building the Dollar Hill shared-use path adjacent to Highway 28, was awarded to Martin Brothers Construction.

This season Caltrans and its contractors completed work on two projects on Highway 89 and made significant progress on a third this season.

Curbs, gutters, sidewalks and drainage systems were added to a five-mile stretch of Highway 89 from the Y intersection in South Lake Tahoe through Camp Richardson to Cascade Road. The roadway also was widened and repaved. 

Another project from Cascade Road over Emerald Bay to the Eagle Falls viaduct also recently wrapped up construction. 

Along the West Shore, all but about 10 percent of the work has been completed on a multi-year project rebuilding the highway from Tahoma to Tahoe City with curbs and gutters, drainage treatment facilities, new pavement and wider shoulders throughout.

In addition to Caltrans’ work on Highway 89, Placer County has completed its $50 million water quality and streetscape project on Highway 28 in Kings Beach. The work included new curbs and gutters, sidewalks, landscaping and street lighting. It also reduced the highway from four lanes to three and included construction of two roundabouts.