For decades, the question of how to connect Lake Tahoe Basin’s small cities and tourist destinations — separated by the vast lake and a rugged mountain landscape — has presented a challenge.

Following the 1960 Winter Olympics in North Lake Tahoe, planners proposed a cement bridge over Emerald Bay and a four lane-highway circumnavigating Big Blue.

Those projects never came to pass, but the question of how to most effectively move the basin’s millions of annual visitors around the lake while minimizing traffic and mitigating environmental effects remains front and center for those invested in the basin’s future.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle (and both sides of the lake) met at the 28th annual Lake Tahoe Summit at Round Hill Pines on Wednesday to discuss the future of transportation in the Tahoe Basin. This year marks the 55th anniversary of the Bi-State Compact drafted between California and Nevada to create the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) to lead efforts to preserve and restore Lake Tahoe.

The theme of this year’s summit, “Connecting Tahoe: Investing in Transit, Trails, and Technology for the Future,” emphasized planned and underway projects aimed at combating overcrowding on Tahoe’s roads and ensuing runoff that contributes to the lake’s declining clarity.

“Our work to keep Lake Tahoe accessible and clean is ongoing and constantly evolving,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), who hosted this year’s summit. “Tahoe’s transportation infrastructure, including its roads, trails and public transit, really is a key part of its economy.”

Earlier this year, $24 million in federal funds were awarded to a consortium of groups and agencies to continue work on the Tahoe East Shore Trail and safety projects along State Route 28, a 16.3-mile-long highway which runs from Spooner Junction north to Incline Village.

The project targets removing illegally parked vehicles on the sides of Hwy. 28 and traffic congestion between Incline Village and Spooner Summit by enhancing parking, connectivity and public transportation.

Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and keynote speaker at Wednesday’s event, congratulated Nevada’s congressional delegation and Tahoe stakeholders on the acquisition of those funds.

“Trails are not ornamental. They are fundamental to a good and safe transportation system,” he said. “When the right trail and transit infrastructure exist, people have alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles.”

The project will be anchored by a 250-space park and ride at the top of Spooner Summit with a permanent watercraft inspection station, as well as new parking areas at Chimney Beach, Secret Cove and Skunk Harbor, Gavin Feiger, policy director for the League to Save Lake Tahoe, told The Nevada Independent after the summit. The parking areas will be connected by public transportation and a paved trail system. It will also include erosion control components.

A 2017 TRPA report found there is one parking spot for every 9,176 visitors to the basin, with some of the most critical shortages found along the East Shore at Sand Harbor and Incline Village. 

A pilot portion of the Tahoe East Shore Trail was constructed in 2019, featuring a three-mile-long bike path connecting Sand Harbor State Park to Incline Village and increased parking and transportation options.

The additional $24 million in funding will cover the cost of constructing two more parking areas and a 1.75-mile trail connector from Sand Harbor to Thunderbird Lodge.  

Some Tahoe residents have spoken in opposition to the project. 

Decreasing the number of cars driving along the lake and parking illegally, such as those that swarm State Route 28, will help mitigate sediment transportation, according to a spokesperson for TRPA. Nearly three quarters of the fine sediment going into Lake Tahoe comes from the basin’s developed areas. The basin’s roadways are the primary carriers.

A bill is being considered for the upcoming legislative session that would amend the Bi-State Compact to establish a Lake Tahoe Basin Scenic Byway Corridor Recreation Safety Zone, granting the region’s transportation district and their contractors the authority to ticket illegally parked vehicles within the safety zone. The proposed zone would include state Routes 28 and 431 and U.S. Highway 50. The transportation district currently does not have authority to ticket vehicles parked illegally on the sides of the highways. 

As lawmakers on Wednesday celebrated the funds that have already been secured, they also looked forward to those still in limbo.

The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, a multi-million-dollar pot of funding for environmental projects on both sides of the lake, is set to expire October 1.

The act was first passed in 2000, establishing a $300 million fund for the lake, then was reauthorized in 2016, raising the pot to $415 million. The money has funded hundreds of projects from trail construction to invasive species removal.

There is still $300 million in the pot, but with authorization set to expire this fall, re-authorization is necessary to provide continued access to the funds.

The first bill originated after the original Lake Tahoe Summit in 1997, convened by then-Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Harry Reid (D-NV). The re-authorization was introduced last year by Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) with bipartisan, bi-state support to extend it through 2034. Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Cortez Masto, Feinstein, Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Alex Padilla (D-CA).

Read more: In Congress, a push to keep hundreds of millions flowing to Tahoe for clarity, restoration projects

Read more: As part of 'Team Tahoe', Feinstein's legacy includes lake protection, preservation

In honor of Feinstein, who died last September, Lake Tahoe’s West Shore Trail will officially be renamed the “Dianne Feinstein West Shore Trail,” Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA), who was chosen to replace Feinstein, announced Wednesday.

Lawmakers from both states on Wednesday said they remain hopeful the bill will be through Congress and signed by President Joe Biden before the end of the year.