Opinion: Loop road project is a dream gone bad
To the community,
Once again the loop road has us going in circles. The first plan for the Park Avenue Redevelopment Area 1 (Stateline) contained not only a loop road, but a satellite city hall with two parking spaces for city customers, and a monorail connecting Stateline to Ski Run. The plan was driven by wishes, wishes that haven’t been fulfilled.
The current loop road plan is a planner’s dream, a dream that may turn into a nightmare because to do the loop as planned, workforce housing will have to be taken by the agency. Thus, the agency talks of using eminent domain to take property. A problem is the City Council on a vote of 5-0 killed future use of eminent domain in Redevelopment Area 1. Thus, the agency and the city are on a collision course.
Bill Crawford
And the loop road as dreamed of would reroute commercial vehicles through neighborhoods. The planners ignore the traffic of 18-wheelers and other large commercial vehicles. Also, regardless of what happens or doesn’t happen, the 18-wheelers , etc., will always be with us. All that the planned loop road would achieve is a bottleneck because the 18-wheelers, etc., have to return to Highway 50 to complete the business of transporting goods and services from A to B. If the dreamers would wake up, they would realize that there is no satisfactory alternative to the present passage of vehicles through the casino canyon. We are hemmed in by the lake and the mountains. That’s not likely to change. Not even by dreamers planning.
The message for me is, be what we seem to be. Minus the pretense, the community is a mountain border town locked into lost causes.
Bill Crawford, South Lake Tahoe
Closing traffic through the casino corridor would not be a positive thing. Outa sight, outa mind. Just look at how the new freeway through Carson has hurt businesses with Carson St. frontage. Easily noticed driving through and seeing all the vacant commercial property.
For once I agree with Crawford. If the City gets involved further they’ll only be wasting time and money on this ridiculous project. The altitude here sure effects peoples minds.
If the casinos do not find the present highway placement convenient, they should relocate their facilities, instead of asking taxpayers to inconveniently reroute the highway.
If SLT is hellbent on turning the Stateline portion of Hwy 50 into a pedestrian mall or plaza, has any thought been given to building an underpass for thru Hwy 50 traffic? Might be cheaper than re-routing the highway and dealing with a lot of private property owners.
What else currently runs under Hwy 50, other than the walkway from Harrah’s to Harvey’s? Could that underground walkway, etc. be eliminated?
two really good suggestions here – certainly going underground is something that is worth exploring with less social cost, and (2) yes, if moving bebefits the casino properties, perhaps they should look into moving and bearing the costs themselves. The other issues in all this is we supposedly are going to have one less casino in a few years, and this town should start to think about what it might want to look like when one day there may not be any!
Underground is probably the only way to go.
this loop road idea has been on the table since 1988
I think it should go along the Lake side of Park ave.
less impact to the citizens of our town
and they could mow down some Tweeker – Herion addict motels
it’s a better idea then taking out the whole Moss rd. neighbor hood
underground Hwy 50 has my attention! Is that even possible, TRPA?
Say NO to the loop road! The current project is backed and funded 50k by the South Lake Tahoe Associations of Resorts “Star” – renamed from the former “Gaming Alliance”. The road continues through a roundabout at 50/Parkway and deposits visitors to the rebuilt Horizon and new Edgewood resorts! The front part of the new Horizon is built with extensive retail and restaurant opportunities – the new Village Center! This plan does not benefit South Lake Tahoe! Who gives Tahoe Transportation District the authority to dictate what is correct for our community? The plan needs to be redesigned to put emphasis on South Lake Tahoe businesses and properties – NOT the casino core!
Please attend the May 11th meeting of TTD. Location: Inn by the Lake , 3300 Lake Tahoe Blvd; Time: 9:30am. The loop road is up for discussion with the board. Thank you.
Underground what? A road? That’s ridiculous. The loop road should be a hugh one-way circle, running counter clockwise around Raleys, the village and casinos and back behind the horizon and harveys and back to Raleys. Close the hwy 50 corridor and turn it into a pedestrian/open area. Make it a park like setting that will draw people there. If the casinos want to keep hwy 50 open, close it at Stateline thru to Raleys. To keep traffic flowing, the road between the village and raleys should be closed, up to the parking garage, leaving access from the new loop road behind raleys. Simple, and easy to try out with a few cement barriers and signs. Do it now thru the summer, before wasting tens of millions.
Seems simple to me. Underground road between the casinos from beginning of existing loop road by Edgewood and ending Pioneer Trail intersection, pedestrian mall above, paid for by the casinos, NDOT & Cal Trans. Leave Moss Road and the Edgewood Loop as is. Pedestrian Mall from Park Ave to Harveys and Harrahs. Casino parking off existing loop roads and possibly from the new under ground Hwy. Again let the Casinos, NDOT and CAl Trans pay, not the City of SLT. Or do nothing. Aloha
Steven that would probably work at 2 in the morning, but what about 12 noon on a Friday. Think dude, think.
We need ideas to make our city a more attractive and vibrant place to attract tourism and help our citizens and infrastructure. 1/3 of the population lives in overcrowded dilapidated rental housing. Those people are paid minimum wages and feel lucky to have a job. 17% unemployment if not higher exist in the city. Although we desperately need ideas and actions to help our city, there is a constant criticizing of any attempts to bring any new future projects to fruition. People scream about the hole, redevelopment failure, affordable housing, and now the loop road without any plan to stimulate the economy of South Lake Tahoe. Turning the casino corridor into a more tourist friendly pedestrian oriented development would draw more concerts, more retail shoppers and revenue. A development at the hole to enhance this concept will eventually come and bring a synergistic effect that will increase revenue as well. To say otherwise, and want to keep the “status quo” doesn’t help our city to rebound at all. Now, the same people who fought redevelopment and affordable housing are worried about replacing the work force housing. Either lead or get out of the way. It’s the same thing over and over, let’s go backward and not forward. The idea that transporting goods back to the casino corridor has been ignored, or relocation of work force housing or residents has not been considered or planned for, or the environmental impacts have not been considered is a smokescreen attempt by people who don’t want any progress or change for the better.
John Dude, you think. A oneway loop road of 2 lanes, 2 lanes is what there is now, circling behind everything. No signals, keep the traffic moving. A round-a-bout at the Edgewood/50 intersection. Very simple. Oh, and John, what is happening now on Friday afternoon? Back ups because of signals.
Most of this is “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic” if another whole business model is not developed. . .
Traffic ? what traffic ? (60’s ? 70’s ? Now ?)
Renderings of design possibilities do not increase traffic – but it does give chores to the only stable workforce – agencies, who by the way, will be hard-pressed shortly to even design & plan any further, as they are all just rehashing things that never got done the first time they were rolled out. . .
Tahoe is finite in shape & size, as we’ve been told over & over, and can see for ourselves, so how many ways are there to actually do something ?
Not many. . .especially never done. . .
Time for a reality check across the board. . .
Comment on Carson City: ‘biggerpictures’ observations at the front of this string does not know of CC’s extensive ‘charrette’ planning process that “master-planned” what was to happen when the freeway got built (which it did)- the highway through town kept a lot of business from developing due to the number of 18-wheelers needing to traverse through town.
Folks just driving through had no idea what business actually fronted Carson Street as they concentrated on the traffic all around them . . .
One example of this is that CC had an ordinance that required 18 wheelers to travel in the “fast” lane so they would not have safety problems with those entering Carson Street from the numerous side streets. Now the pace is slower, less congested, and more conducive to growth & walkability than before – just as planned.
Tahoe needs a similar process (I engaged in most of it) but always rely on the same answers – absent the proper questioning. . .
Steven I get the concept, but it starts with assembling a very large bulldozer. Maybe D-8, maybe bigger. I have the casinos between my work and my house, so I would love to see your idea implemented. But think it through. First you have to acquire all the property, then asbestos lead inspections, the asbestos lead remediation, the demolition, then construction. That is years of work and it ignores the existance of TRPA, Lahontan and the counties. Right now there is absolutely no possible way to get that done. The cost of acquiring the property makes it where it would never work.
Well whatever they do, if there is extra dirt, please fill up the hole on 50
Before you do Leon be sure take the T.R.P.A. SICK AT THE BOTTOM !
Garry Bowen, I’m sure many of the owners of the vacant commercial properties through that corridor have a feeling that the meticulously planned 50 reroute hasn’t born much fruit as of yet. But I will agree, it is much more pleasant driving through, Carson since the change!
bigger, Whe you say “meticulously planned 50 reroute hasn’t born much fruit” what reroute and when and or where was it located. thanks, lou
Sorry Lou, I misspoke. Rerouted 395, because 50 still goes through Downtown Carson.
last Saturday I had coffee with Carl Ribaudo he told me that he wants to SHRINK the TOWN
you folks better pay attention becuase this project will defeat our town.
if your on the Goverment Dole then it won’t matter to you, but if you have to work here for a living, you should have a say in what happens
Chief, I did’t know carl was able to SHRINK our town. His friends know and knew how and you can see the fruits of their labor. The good news is $$$ has dried up and has
slowed them down, but they are waiting for phase 3, 4, 5, so the city can give away the farm again so carls friends can prosper again.
The loop road is not a city project and redevelopment agency is dead. It’s surprising how many things people assume and purport as facts. The loop road project is a project of the Transportation company (Blue Go folks). They might have eminent domain powers if that is possible, but Crawford’s right that the city no longer has those powers.
Let’s get real here, the loop road is not going to happen and shouldn’t happen. The 30 or 40 million bucks it would take would come from where? Who or what agency has that kind of money to burn ? If they do, how about a good transportation system first, then good roads curbs and gutters and street lighting and maybe a few other essential needs like say, improve the parks and store fronts.
The loop road idea may be keeping a few people employed designing planning holding meetings, but I wouldn’t plan on seeing it come to be anytime in the next 30 years.
What I said was shrink the footprint of the town including coverage making it more environmentally friendly by reducing sediment run off at the same time working to generate more revenue and employment.
Does anyone know who employs the most people on the Ca. side of the south shore, if you exclude national chains, non profits, quasi gov.( i.e. refuse company)and agencies that receive over 50% of budget from the gov. We have turned into a gov. town when over 75% of its GDP is from the gov.and without those in gov. jobs, SLT would go BK. Well my guess, to my own question is less than 40 people. The 25% that work in the private sector, a guess, would be 80% of those make the min. wage.
You guys dont know anything about this area. The roads and businesses this redevelopment would be affecting are trash, plain and simple. The entire street of Fern is infested with garbage. Echo is no better. The bottle shop and 7-11 on the corner there feed the meth heads in town their alcohol and cigs.
Give me a break. If the highway doesn’t go through that area, something else should wipe it out. Disgusting and pathetic.
Todd
First of all, these people living on Fern St, are citizents of our community, not trash. They work, have familys, maybe you need to go and talk to these lovely people before you call them all junkies. Take a good look at yourself in the mirror, you will then see some real trash, someone who doesn’t care about the working poor. Good luck in your life, lets move you, without a choice and see how you would feel.
And Lori you are probably the slum lord housing this trash. They are not citizens of our community, they are sucking the system dry and a good portion of them are here illegally.
Good luck to you. I hope your slum lord buildings are taken down.