UPDATE: I-80 and Hwy 50 Reopen in Sierra, But Travelers Urged to Stay Home
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE (CBS13/CBS SF) — While the major Sierra highways had reopened as of Wednesday morning, officials are urging people to stay home to keep traffic to a minimum.
Both eastbound and westbound Interstate 80 were reopened by Tuesday evening after a days-long closure that began during the holiday weekend. Chain controls remain in effect from Colfax to the Nevada State Line.
Highway 50 remained open up to the Nevada State Line, but Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak issued an emergency order to close US-50 at the state line Tuesday night, meaning only Nevada residents will be let through for the time being. All other recreational traffic is being turned back at the state line.
For Highway 50, chain controls are in effect three miles east of Placerville to Meyers.
The Placer County Sheriff was also discouraging non-essential travel on I-80, noting that the additional cars were "creating a major backup for emergency responders and hampering their ability to do their job."
Heavy snow coated the roadway, with downed trees also proving to be a major issue for Caltrans crews as they worked to get I-80 reopened over the past several days.
Another storm was hitting the Northern California coast on Wednesday morning, and was projected to move inland and add to the already impressive snow totals from the past week.
Highway 50 was reopened first on Tuesday, but people trying to go around the I-80 closure meant massive gridlock along the South Lake Tahoe corridor.
