Erosion has created some unstable slopes around Tahoe ever since our huge winter in 2017.
One of the hillsides is just north of Cave Rock along U.S. 50 near the Logan Creek Drive intersection.
It’s there were boulders the size of cars fell onto the roadway in February of 2017.
“We had heavy rains, followed by heavy snows, followed by heavy rains again and with that the soils became saturated,” says Rick Bosch, NDOT’s Assistant District Engineer for Construction.
As a result, the rocks couldn't hold and these massive boulders damaged a portion of the roadway. Thankfully no one was hurt.
“We took those lanes, we pushed everybody over to an area where they'd be safe,” says Bosch.
Because of the obvious and impending danger to drivers if another strong winter were to hit, NDOT drew up an emergency contract. The answer was a roadside wall, one that would prevent erosion on the 60 foot slope. Crews began the project by drilling large nails into the hillside to secure a heavy duty mesh that acts like a giant net. They then covered the wall with one thousand yards of concrete, and sculpted it to look like a natural wall.
“It's to match the rock colors and to really look like rock and really look nice for the Tahoe area,” says Bosch.
The finished product will not only prevent large rocks from coming down onto traffic, but the decreased erosion will also be a benefit for the environment in that area.
“Stabilizing the slope certainly reduces any sentiment that's coming off that slope and potentially going into Lake Tahoe," says Bosch.
The $5.2 million dollar project will wrap up by August 19th and all lanes of traffic will be back open to drivers.
Many of the other U.S. 50 roadside slopes in that area already keep rocks from falling with wire netting and other types of barriers.
