Commission recommends scenic Tahoe bike path

The Carson City Parks and Recreation Commission voted this week to recommend a bicycle path that would run from Stateline to just north of the Round Hill Pines Beach, in what will ultimately become the Stateline-to-Stateline Bikeway of the Lake Tahoe Path System.

Karen Mullen, consultant for an 11-agency working group that includes Carson City, Douglas and Washoe counties, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the U.S. Forest Service, presented the group's two suggested alignments for the southern portion of the bikeway - about three miles of the total 33-mile project.

"The present bikeway is extremely popular along the west shore," Mullen said.

According to the group's Web site, the vision for the Nevada Stateline-to-Stateline Bikeway Project is to complete the Nevada portion of a bike path circling Lake Tahoe that connects communities, enhances recreational opportunities, expands transportation choices, and promotes the enjoyment of the Tahoe Basin.

Commissioners unanimously selected alternative B, which for the most part does not parallel U.S. 50 and offers a more natural and scenic biking experience.

Commissioner Steve Lasco agreed with the group's rating system that safety should be a high priority.

"I lived at Tahoe for a number of years and I prefer (Alternative) B. That's a busy road (U.S. 50) with a lot of traffic, and a high component is tourist traffic. They're gawking and it could be a dicey situation," Lasco said.

Another downside of Alternative A from the working group's perspective, however, is that it crosses private property, which requires obtaining easements, Mullen said.

The USFS, however, prefers Alternative A because it bypasses the Rabe Meadow north of Kahle Drive, thus preserving the popular existing Lam Watah Interpretive Trail.

The proposed path starts at Stateline behind the casino corridor on Lake Parkway and meets up with the highway bordering the Edgewood Golf Course. It then cuts back to Laura Drive before splitting at Kahle Drive.

From that point, Alternative A cuts back to the highway where it runs parallel to it for about 3,000 feet before crossing through Rabe Meadow near Elks Point Road.

Alternative B runs west alongside Kahle Drive about 1,500 feet before cutting across the Rabe Meadow along the Lam Watah Trail.

The proposed alternatives then converge and circle around the west side of Round Hill and again parallel U.S. 50 about 700 feet before ending at Round Hill Pines Beach Road.

Public comments will be accepted until Sept. 21 at www.nvtahoebikeway. For more information, call the Carson City Parks and Recreation Department at 887-2262, ext. 30337.

The north portion of the project is expected to be presented in the spring.