Owner/Client: Tahoe Transportation District
The absence of a bicycle facility on the East Shore is a key missing piece of the desired premier bikeway circling Lake Tahoe. Ascent staff led the preparation of a feasibility study for a 30+-mile bicycle trail along the East Shore of Lake Tahoe, along with the detailed design, environmental review, and permitting for the first two phases, each three miles in length. Called the “America's Most Beautiful Bikeway,” the alignment from Stateline Casino Core on the South Shore to Crystal Bay on the North Shore contains many challenges for siting a separated bicycle path. The challenges include:
- rugged topography, stream crossings, and lake shore construction
- private property
- tight highway cross-sections like at Sand Harbor
- highway crossings
- urban traffic issues
Connection to existing or planned bicycle facilities is important to ensure good connectivity in locations like Kingsbury, Round Hill, Incline Village, and Crystal Bay, which can create routing and highway crossing challenges.
The working group and technical advisory group for this project is composed of representatives from three separate Nevada counties, the three divisions of the TRPA, the Tahoe Transportation District, the U.S. Forest Service, Nevada Department of Transportation, Nevada State Lands, Nevada State Parks, and several interest groups and open space committees. Ascent led the team in interagency coordination, public involvement, and GIS data management.
The Ascent team also led the detailed design, environmental review, and permitting for the South Demonstration Project (extending from the state line in South Lake Tahoe to Round Hill Pines Beach); and the North Demonstration Project (extending from Incline Village to the Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park at Sand Harbor). Construction of the South Demonstration Project began in 2012.