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Donner Lake residents ask Truckee council for traffic study after fatal crash
Summary
A Donner Lake neighborhood resident urged the Town of Truckee to fund a traffic study and public engagement after recent high-speed crashes; council members agreed to return the matter to the work plan for further study and potential future agenda time.
Katie Hawkins, a Donner Lake neighborhood resident, told the Town of Truckee council that neighbors have signed a support letter asking the town, Nevada County and Sugar Bowl Resort to act after “year‑round frequent instances of excessive speeds” and a March 2025 collision that left one person dead and another seriously injured.
Hawkins told the council she and 82 neighbors want the town to allocate staff time and resources for a traffic‑calming study on the high‑traffic section of Donner Lake, to permit public comment on recommended measures and to pursue a shared‑cost agreement for implementing the study’s recommendations with the other local partners. “Everyone in this room deeply cares about our community and would argue that Donner Lake is the crown jewel of the Sierra Nevada,” she said.
Council members responded by asking staff to fold the request into the council’s work plan and by expressing general support for further study. One council member suggested placing the item on a future agenda so the community could present concepts and recommended that it also be considered as part of upcoming CIP (capital improvement program) discussions.
Council members and staff noted the town is already part of the Donner Lake Interagency Partnership for Stewardship and said any study should coordinate with that partnership’s transportation, safety and parking objectives. Staff indicated they will follow up to clarify the scope and return with options on how to proceed, including whether to place the matter on a future agenda for public presentation.
The request surfaced again later in the budget/CIP discussion, where staff listed a “Donner Lake traffic calming study” among items not yet included in the draft work plan or proposed budget and said the council could choose whether to add it.
For now, the council did not adopt a final policy or funding decision; instead, members directed staff to preserve the request for future work‑plan or agenda review and to provide staff support and data options for a presentation requested by the residents.
The council left open the possibility of funding the study from CIP or other program budgets and asked staff to identify likely approaches and partners for a shared‑cost arrangement.
