Washoe County asks Incline Village for priorities on Tahoe transportation plan; residents press for bike paths, winter maintenance and limits on a mobility hub

Washoe County officials asked the Incline Village/Crystal Bay Citizens Advisory Board on Tuesday to identify the community’s priorities for projects in the updated Tahoe Transportation Plan as the county prepares grant applications and capital budgets for 2025.

The request came from Dave Solaro, assistant county manager, who reviewed the plan’s “buckets” of work — intersection and State Route 28 improvements, bus‑stop and transit upgrades, multi‑use path connectivity, winter maintenance, parking and a potential mobility hub — and asked the CAB to indicate which areas should come first so county staff can pursue the right grants and project schedules.

The question matters because much of the county’s ability to secure state or federal funding depends on embedding projects in regional plans and showing community support. “We’ve got limited project management capacity,” Solaro said. He asked the board to submit priorities by about April to align with grant cycles and TRPA and regional transportation plan timelines.

Community members and CAB members offered specific priorities and concerns. Several participants said bus‑stop data are needed to decide where to place ADA‑compliant bus pads and which stops to upgrade. “That data about bus stop use to choose which ones to improve would be important to me,” CAB member Chris Wood said.

Bicycle safety emerged as a top request. “We need specific bike paths that do not have walkers in them,” said Elise Fett, an engineer and Crystal Bay resident, referring to the growing use of e‑bikes and the speed differential that makes mixed‑use trails unsafe. CAB chair Roxanna Dunn and others urged protected or widened bike lanes, a pilot bike boulevard on Lakeshore Boulevard and a clearer strategy to keep fast e‑bikes off narrow multi‑use paths.

Residents pushed for better winter maintenance of multi‑use paths leading to schools. “Children walking to school in the street is terrifying,” CAB member Diane Becker said, and Parks Commissioner Neil Jones described multi‑week delays in clearing paths after storms. Solaro said winter maintenance is constrained by road‑funding sources (fuel tax) and by priorities that favor routing and plowing streets first so emergency services can reach homes, but he said he would follow up with operations staff about school‑route priorities.

Parking and the proposed mobility hub drew pointed comments. Some residents objected to any large surface parking lot or a centralized “bus hub” in the village, and several speakers said that an earlier proposal for a site south of Sweetwater — which an attendee described as a plan showing 44 parking spaces — would be inappropriate if it became a year‑round tourist lot. “We will not agree to a bus hub and large parking lot at the old Incline Elementary School site,” said resident Rhonda Tycer, who said the community has opposed a large hub in past rounds of planning.

Solaro said the county is coordinating with agencies including TTD (Tahoe Transportation District), TRPA and NDOT, and that some projects on SR‑28 are already in process or in regional plans that make them more competitive for funding. He also said the county has funded micro‑transit for fiscal years 2023–25 and plans to gather ridership data to learn whether users are residents or visitors.

Traffic‑calming requests focused on Village Boulevard intersections at Northwood and Southwood, where residents and planners discussed options including 4‑way stops, realignments, or roundabouts. Helen Neff and others urged consideration of simpler fixes such as 4‑way stops to reduce speeds near the middle and high schools.

Solaro invited continued written input and said he would post the transportation plan materials and follow up on questions raised at the meeting, including requests for traffic counts and bus‑stop usage data.

Ending: The county asked the CAB to submit prioritized feedback by spring, and residents said they will organize focused input on bike lanes, bus stops and winter path clearing before grant deadlines. Solaro said he will return to report on progress and funding outcomes.