By Lake Tahoe News staff

It’s not just Kingsbury Grade that will be torn up this year. Caltrans will be working on six water-quality improvement projects on the California side of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Plus, work in the center of South Lake Tahoe will tie up traffic now that the Harrison Avenue project has begun. This project will include making some of the side streets one way.

The Kingsbury Grade project is more about fixing that stretch of state highway that links Lake Tahoe and the Carson Valley than it is water quality.

The grade will always be open to residents and all businesses will be open. What will be off limits from May 1-23 is the ability to drive from the basin to the valley and vice versa. People on either side will only be able to get to the top of the summit, not over it during that time frame. The same limitations will be in effect after Labor Day until the end of construction season.

Work will continue at night in June, July and August. Delays are expected. But through traffic will be allowed during those months.

More info is online.

Caltrans projects are designed to improve safety and traffic flow by encouraging walking and bicycling with wider shoulders, left-turn pockets, repaving the highway, the installation of sidewalks, crosswalks and traffic signals.

Caltrans projects:

Highway 50

• From Lake Tahoe Airport to the Y

• May 5-Oct. 15; should be done in one season

• Estimated cost: $12.1 million

• Anticipated closures: Off-peak season: from 7pm-11am, Monday through Friday; peak season: from 7pm-9am,Monday through Friday. Up to 20-minute delays.

• From Johnson Pass Road through Meyers to Incline Road

• May 1-Oct. 15; should be done in one season

• Estimated cost: $15.3 million

• Anticipated closures: Monday through Thursday from 6am-6pm, off the road by noon Friday. Daytime closures are scheduled throughout the project unless traffic impacts necessitate switching to night work.

Highway 89

• From one-tenth mile north of Eagle Falls sidehill viaduct No. 5 to Meeks Creek Bridge

• Now-Oct. 15; project expected to finish in fall 2015

• Estimated cost: $20 million

• Anticipated closures: Off-peak season: daytime Monday through Thursday, 6am-6pm, No lane closures after 1am Friday. Peak season: nighttime Monday through Friday, 6pm-6am. Up to 20-minute delays.

• From Wilson Street in Tahoma to Tahoe City (to Cherry Street this season)

• May 1-Oct. 15; project is expected to finish in fall 2016

• Estimated cost: $41 million

• Anticipated closures: Off-peak season (Memorial Day-June 15): around the clock from midnight Sunday until noon Friday. Peak season (June 15-Labor Day): around the clock from midnight Sunday until 10am Friday. Up to 20-minute delays.

• Note: In conjunction with this project, Southwest Gas is in its final season of gas line relocations along the highway from Ward Avenue to Granlibakken Road. Anticipated lane closures for the gas work are: off-peak: midnight Sunday to 1pm Monday; and daily from 6pm to 1pm Monday through Friday. Peak season: midnight Sunday to noon Monday; daily from 7pm to noon Monday through Thursday; and 7pm Thursday to 10am Friday. Up to 20-minute delays.

• From Tahoe City to Squaw Valley

• Late May-Oct. 15; project expected to be completed this season

• Estimated cost: $4 million

• Anticipated closures: Off-peak season: Nighttime closures, 6pm-10am Sunday through Saturday. Peak season: Nighttime closures, 6pm-10am Sunday through Friday. Up to 20-minute delays.

Highway 28

• From Chipmunk Street to the junction of Highway 267 in Kings Beach

• Now-June 30 and Sept. 7-Oct. 15 (no work on highway in July and August); project is expected to be completed in fall 2015

• Estimated cost: $36 million

• Anticipated closures: 7am-10pm, Monday through Thursday, off the road by noon Friday.

In addition to the Caltrans projects, Placer County’s Kings Beach Commercial Core Improvement Program is already under construction. The streetscape project includes reducing Highway 28 from four lanes to three and installing drainage facilities for water-quality improvements.

Here is a Caltrans construction map.