The Nevada Department of Transportation Board on Monday chose Granite Construction to begin work to build a multi-use, shared access path from the south end of Incline Village to Sand Harbor at Lake Tahoe.
The project, a bit more than three miles, will cost between $25 to $30 million and take more than two years to complete.
NDOT officials chose the Construction-Manager-At-Risk process because of the challenging terrain and the need to minimize environmental, visual and traffic impacts. They say it will reduce the dangers of vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian accidents along that stretch of State Route 28.
For most of that distance, the new pathway will be on the mountain side of the highway. It will cross to the lake side of the road through an underpass at Tunnel Creek just south of Hidden Beach.
Primarily because of the two popular beaches, that stretch of road sees nearly a million visitors each summer when vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians are all counted.
In addition to the path and the underpass, the project includes building two new parking areas — one near the Ponderosa Ranch and the other at the Tunnel Creek Café to replace the roadside parking currently used by visitors. That roadside parking will be eliminated.
There also will be pull-outs for both maintenance and emergencies along with erosion control to improve water quality from the Washoe County Line to Sand Harbor.
Representatives from the Tahoe Fund, Tahoe Transportation District and Washoe County all spoke in favor of the project.
NDOT officials say the project is the first in a series that will eventually create a trail all the way from the state line at the north end of the lake to the city of Stateline at South Lake Tahoe.