Thanks Tricia. I have some free points so my options are Reno/Carson, or CA cities west of Tahoe. I figure it’s a quicker/easier drive to Taho from Nevada than CA. I was wondering if 50 is a highly traveled/maintained freeway and stays open even on snowy days.
Easier coming from the east, heading west.
This was posted by CHP - Placerville regarding travelers heading east from Sacaramento/Bay Area
***MORNING UPDATE 2/16/19 at 0955***
US-50 is already backing up. Motorists just don’t want to heed our warnings.
Chain control from Point View to Meyers.
Expect an 8-10 hour trip to South Lake Tahoe, if you are lucky. Snow will continue to fall and CalTrans will continue to hold traffic intermittently for avalanche control. THEY HAVE TO DO THIS TO KEEP YOU ALIVE!
We have been keeping our officers pretty much on double shifts keeping everyone available out there. We have been doing this since yesterday, even if you may not have seen us. We are seeing a situation where our roads cannot handle this amount of traffic in these conditions. Rather than direct traffic in many cases we are having to go rescue people who have put themselves in bad situations by being unprepared. Thank you to CalTrans, EDSO, Fire and all other agencies out there helping to mitigate the issues.
Want to know why it is backing up? Too many people are showing up to chain control completely unprepared. YOU CAN’T BUY CHAINS FROM CALTRANS. Your chains also do no good on the non-drive axle. Locations to buy chains are sparse once you get on the hill.
You have a large snowstorm over several days, add in chain control, intermittent closures for avalanche control, thousands of unprepared motorists, a 3 day weekend, and you get traffic backed up.
THERE ARE NO ALTERNATE ROUTES ON BACK ROADS IF YOU ARE ON 50. STOP TRYING TO FOLLOW GPS OFF OF 50.