An envisioned bike path connecting Incline Village to Sand Harbor State Park is officially in the works, now that the Tahoe Fund organization has met its goal of raising $750,000 in private donations for the project.
Reno Public Radio's Michelle Bliss reports that meeting that goal means more than $12 million in public funding from local, state, and federal governments will now be triggered.
This project will be the next section of the Lake Tahoe Bikeway, a long-term project to build a path around the entire lake spanning more than 70 miles.
"It's really going to be the three most stunning miles of the Lake Tahoe Bikeway," says Tahoe Fund CEO Amy Berry, "but it's probably going to be the three most stunning miles of any bikeway in America. I mean, you're right on the shoreline of Tahoe--there's giant boulders and sandy beaches."
The new paved path will provide a dedicated space for walkers and bicyclists to access the lake. Right now, visitors must traverse a section of Highway 28 that's both windy and narrow.
"But it has access to some incredible areas of the lake," Berry says, "that people are really willing to risk their lives, riding on the shoulder to get to this lake access. And people are actually walking on that side of the road with their tubes and rafts and coolers, so it creates an incredibly dangerous situation."
Construction starts next spring and will be completed by 2017 at the latest. The Tahoe Fund has raised private money for about a dozen other projects related to recreation and issues like water conservation.