Stuck in traffic? Let’s play a game: Which road construction project are you seeing? There are quite a few improvements taking place this summer on our local roads. We decided to round up everything across the counties, states, towns, and jurisdictions we cover. Happy waiting!
~ AH
What road construction projects are happening on the streets of Truckee/North Lake Tahoe this summer?
Nevada Department of Transportation is in the midst of the third construction season of a multi-year project to resurface and improve State Route 28 and State Route 431, centered around Incline Village.
Nearly 15 miles of state routes 28 and 431 are being repaved to help restore the mountainous highways, and important roadway drainage, accessibility, and other improvements are being made.
Through October 2023, drivers should anticipate multiple work zones with single-lane closures and travel delays on sections of State Route 28 from Crystal Bay to the Sand Harbor State Park area, and on Mt. Rose Highway from the summit to the State Route 28 roundabout.
While travel time through work zones last summer averaged less than 10 minutes, drivers should anticipate travel delays of up to 30 minutes as traffic flaggers and pilot cars alternate directions of traffic through the work zone.
This season’s project construction includes:
- Intelligent Traffic Systems conduit line installation from the Northwood/Southwood Boulevard intersection in Incline Village to Ponderosa Ranch.
- Repaving six miles of SR 28: Four inches of roadway asphalt will be removed and replaced from the SR 28/431 roundabout to Ponderosa Ranch Road.
- Select roadway cross slopes will be reconstructed for enhanced roadway alignment and drainage.
- Enhanced sidewalks, sidewalk ramps, storm drains, guardrails, and driveway accesses
- SR 431 from SR 28 roundabout in Incline Village to the Mt. Rose Summit scenic overview:
- Repaving additional sections of SR 431: Three inches of roadway asphalt will be removed and replaced.
- Select roadway shoulders will be reconstructed and flattened.
~ Meg Ragonese, NDOT public information officer
In the upcoming months, Incline Village will experience road closures and impact to regular traffic routes due to road improvement projects. These traffic impacts will run through late-October. Please plan your travel accordingly.
Below are the primary work zones and dates. All areas will be safe and usable on the weekends.
- June 19 to Aug. 8: Freels Peak from Mays Boulevard to Abbey Peak Lane. Shoulder work on the north side of the road only. Single-lane closures will impact traffic during daytime hours. Work area on the shoulder to be coned off and equipment staged within right-of-way during the work week. No overnight road closures.
- Aug. 9 to Sept. 28: Southwood Boulevard from Mays to Tanager Street. Shoulder work on both sides of the road. Single-lane closures impacting traffic during daytime hours. Work area on the shoulder to be coned off and equipment staged within right-of-way during the work week. No overnight road closures.
Complete road closures are as follows:
- July 10 to Oct. 30: Incline Way between Village and Southwood will be closed to all traffic for the full duration. No public access will be available at any time during this timeframe.
These dates are subject to change. For more information, please call Washoe311 by dialing 3-1-1 or email washoe311@washoecounty.gov.
~ Washoe County notice to residents
Donner Pass Road remains closed to through traffic just west of Donner Lake due to existing and potential unsafe rock fall on the roadway. The closure will extend to the end of July. For the public’s safety, the rockfall area is closed to all activities such as hiking, biking, climbing, and driving, although many recreational opportunities and access to local businesses or restaurants remain available above and below the closed area.
Residents can view the location of road closure on public works’ Road Conditions and Closures map at nevadacountyca.gov/roadclosures.
Editor’s note: Additional eastern Nevada County road projects are likely to begin in September.
~ Taylor Wolfe, Nevada County public information officer
- Church Street Extension and Trout Creek Restoration: Pre-project Trout Creek alignment with designed restoration and Church Street extension.
- West River Streetscape: The one-way detour will continue in the evenings/night for the next few weeks from 7 p.m. through the night (except on Truckee Thursdays, when it will start at 10 p.m.). Businesses will remain open as usual during construction.
- 2023 Paving and Drainage Project: Live map of project work at bit.ly/44fEOek.
- 2023 Radar Speed Sign Project: Installation of four radar speed signs on town- maintained roadways at the entrances to the Glenshire and Tahoe Donner subdivisions: east and west entrances of Glenshire on Glenshire Drive; Northwoods Boulevard near Trout Creek Trail parking, and Schussing Way at Tahoe Donner subdivision boundary.
~ Becky Bucar, Town of Truckee assistant public works director
Two planned paving projects [are] coming up for [Placer County’s] North Tahoe region. Please be aware these projects and contracts were approved to be contracted at the [June 13] Placer County Board of Supervisors meeting, so they won’t be fully in the works until they are completely funded. That means these are subject to change based on funding availability and bid estimates.
County roads crews will be doing prep work on these roads through early August and then contractors would do the overlay or surface treatment work in September.
In the Tahoe Basin, we have overlay work planned on (limits shown in the maps below):
- Olympic Valley Road from Russell Road just past Indian Trail Road
- Alpine Meadows Road near Highway 89 and past Snow Crest Road
~ Steven Wilson-Maggard, Placer County marketing and community engagement specialist
The SR 28 traffic control for the Southwest Gas project will be nearly the same as last summer, except there will be a 24-hour (full day and night work) one-lane closure (about one half mile in length) instead of a 20-hour one-lane closure as was the case last summer. This one-lane closure work zone will occur Sunday nights to Friday mornings each week … through the end of the summer construction season (typically ending on Oct. 15).
There will also be two 500- to 1,000-foot-long lane closures for the gas main installation by Southwest Gas.
No work will occur on weekends, holidays, [or] during special events … However, three directional borings will take place after Labor Day weekend and each boring location will take three to four weeks to complete. This work requires lane closures on weekends as well as weekdays because the roadway cannot be opened once this work commences (one-way reversing traffic control will be in place).
Drive time delays between Kings Beach and Tahoe City are projected to be between 30 and 60 minutes due to the lane closures and expected traffic flows. The peak commute times will see the most traffic impacts.
~ District 5 Supervisor Cindy Gustafson summer bulletin
There are several projects underway that motorists will need to be aware of this summer season. Along Interstate 80 near the Nevada state line and Mystic, crews will regrade the slope of the road, and work on erosion control. This will last through July with intermittent lane closures and delays of up to 20 minutes.
Crews are also repaving I-80 from Donner Pass Road to the 80/State Route89/State Route 267 interchange. This work will include final stripping of the pavement and erosion control. Expect construction through August with intermittent lane closures and delays up to 20 minutes.
There will also be pavement repairs on I-80, 0.6 miles east of Trout Creek to Truckee River Bridge. This project is expected to last through November with intermittent lane closures and delays of up to 20 minutes.
Lastly, crews are working on emergency pothole repairs on State Route 267.
Caltrans reminds motorists to “be work zone alert” and slow in construction zones for the safety of travelers and crews performing these improvements. The department will issue construction updates on Twitter @CaltransDist3, on Facebook at CaltransDistrict3, and on the Caltrans District 3 website, dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-3. For real-time traffic, click on Caltrans’ Quickmap or download the QuickMap app from the App Store or Google Play.
~ Jeremy Linder, John O’Connell, Caltrans public information officers
El Dorado County has no planned major projects for the Tahoma area this year. We will be completing an erosion control project in Tahoma in 2024.
~ Daniel Kikkert, El Dorado County senior civil engineer
