
Connections 2050
The Vision for Lake Tahoe's Transportation System
The year is 2050 in stunning Lake Tahoe. Billie is a curious and adventurous bear who spends most of her time roaming around the Lake Tahoe Basin. Today is her friend Ezra the Eagle’s birthday, so she decides to test out Tahoe’s transportation network to pay him a visit.
The Reality: 2025
Lake Tahoe’s communities are supported by a robust seasonal recreation tourist economy that supports just over 55,000 residents and attracts millions of visitors each year. Tahoe needs a comprehensive transportation system that will reduce congestion and preserve Tahoe’s environment.
Town centers and popular recreation destinations are dispersed around the lake, connected by state and federal highways, local roads, bike lanes, and shared use paths.
Every four years, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency evaluates and updates the plan for Tahoe’s transportation system. The Connections 2050 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) will identify a broad range of projects, programs, and strategies needed to comprehensively improve Tahoe’s transportation system over the next 25 years. This plan creates a vision for a comprehensive transportation system that will reduce congestion and preserve Tahoe’s environment.
We heard throughout our Transportation Equity Study that it’s much more difficult for individuals with a disability, minority populations, or low-income residents to use Tahoe’s transportation system. Moving forward, TRPA is committed to ensuring that transportation benefits and burdens are equitably distributed.
Transit
The Vision:
Billie takes TART Connect, a free microtransit service, from her den in the mountains down to the nearest Tahoe City bus stop. She looks up and sees that the next bus to South Lake Tahoe is coming in 10 minutes. It’s easy for her to know when the next bus is arriving and where it’s heading thanks to the electronic boards showing real-time estimated arrival times and destinations. It’s free to ride the bus, so when a sleek electric bus pulls up right on time, she boards alongside several other passengers.
The Reality: 2025
Right now, it’s impossible for someone to get from Tahoe City to South Lake Tahoe without a private vehicle. If Billie were visiting her friend in 2025 she would have to drive her own vehicle, contributing to congestion and worse air quality.
While people may use a variety of methods to travel from one point to another (e.g. car, bike, walk), data is showing that most people primarily use a private vehicle.
Seasonality also plays a big role in where people travel. In the winter, people congregate at the many ski resorts within the basin, but in the summer, we see Emerald Bay and Tahoe’s beaches attract the majority of people.
Click and drag the line in the map to switch from Summer (orange) to Winter (blue) visitation.
The Reality: 2025
While many trips are recreation focused, like Billie's trip to South Lake Tahoe, most trips are "everyday trips" to work, school, and the grocery store.
The Reality: 2025
TART Connect just recorded their millionth rider , and while microtransit options are popular for going short distances, they are designed to supplement (not replace) fixed route transit. Regional transit is free-to-the-user, but is not reliable or regular.
The RTP will build upon the Linking Tahoe: Lake Tahoe Basin Transit Master Plan, which provides the long term vision for transit throughout the Tahoe Region, and Short Range Transit Plans, that identify existing and proposed transit infrastructure, operations, and maintenance.
We heard in the Unmet Transit Needs survey that the community wants more frequent and reliable transit with a connection between the North Shore and South Shore.
Towns
The Vision:
Billie’s bus pulled into the transit center at the South Lake Tahoe Y, a vibrant town center. Ezra didn’t own a car, but it was an easy to walk to the restaurant from both his house and the transit center. Quaint shops, local markets, and charming cafes lined the streets, creating a bustling community where residents and visitors alike could walk around safely and visit local businesses. Thanks to TRPA’s policy changes, affordable housing like Ezra’s was prioritized in town centers so that he could get to grocery stores, restaurants, and medical care without a car.
The Reality: 2025
Mountain towns around the country, including Lake Tahoe, are in a housing crisis. Displaced workers commuting into the basin increase vehicle miles travelled (VMT), which leads to more congestion and runoff into the lake. Without housing that is affordable to local workers and families, communities within the Tahoe Basin may continue to lose the workforce and services that help them thrive as people move to Carson City, Reno, and other areas.
The map on the right shows commute patterns, based on home locations (in green) and work locations (in red) reported by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Reality: 2025
Mobility hubs serve the region as transit centers, park and ride locations, active transportation connections, and zero emission vehicle facilities. Tahoe has several mobility hubs in South Lake Tahoe and Tahoe City, but needs more in other communities around the lake so people don’t have to drive their private vehicle everywhere.
The Reality: 2025
Since 2020, TRPA has updated policies to incentivize deed-restricted housing projects, and brought millions of dollars in funding to the basin to build long-term capacity for affordable housing and transportation solutions in the region. TRPA’s policies incentivize development to be transferred away from the edge of town and sensitive areas like meadows, and instead built in town centers. These policies create the density needed to support businesses and more frequent transit in town centers, and results in a more sustainable land use pattern for Tahoe’s forests and meadows.
Learn more about TRPA's housing program. Under California state law, the RTP must integrate housing and show how the region can meet state housing goals.
Safety
The Vision:
After lunch, Billie and Ezra decide to meet their friend Lola the Lahontan cutthroat trout at a nearby trailhead for a hike. Billie rents a bike from a nearby shop, and Ezra uses an app to unlock an e-scooter. Pedestrian-friendly crossings plus separated sidewalks and bike paths, and responsible speed limits make it safer for walkers, bikers, and drivers to safely get around. There has not been a serious injury or fatality on Tahoe’s roadways since 2045. Even in the winter, pedestrians and cyclists stay safely separated from vehicles thanks to regularly plowed sidewalks and paths. Thanks to this infrastructure, Billie and Ezra cruise through town worry-free.
The Reality: 2025
Thanks to the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program, partners have added or improved nearly 200 miles of bike and pedestrian paths since 1997.
As we learned through the 2024 Vision Zero Strategy , and 2024 Active Transportation Plan , there is still a lot of progress to be made in order to build a cohesive and safe trail network for people to walk, bicycle, and roll.
We learned from the Transportation Safety Survey that people felt the safest travelling by vehicle, transit, and paratransit, and the least safe by walking/rolling, bicycling, and shared mobility/e-scooters. This sentiment is in line with crash data that shows vulnerable road users are disproportionately involved in serious crashes.
Regionally significant projects and proposed policies in the Vision Zero and Active Transportation plans seek to further safety and mobility and will be considered for adoption in the RTP.
Trails
The Vision:
Billie and Ezra meet Lola the Lahontan cutthroat trout at the trailhead to Tahoe Mountain, which features ADA parking, and serviced trash cans and bathrooms. Lola, Billie and Ezra enjoy a lovely afternoon winding through towering pines to breathtaking views of Lake Tahoe and Desolation Wilderness.
The Reality: 2025
Improving transportation options for bicyclists and pedestrians is one of the most effective ways to conserve and restore Lake Tahoe’s environment, revitalize the economy, enhance recreation opportunities, and improve public health.
The 2023 Tahoe Regional Trails Strategy provided a blueprint for a connected and accessible network of Tahoe’s more than 580 miles of dirt trails. These trails provide recreation, transportation, fitness, and fun for Tahoe residents and visitors.
Technology
The Vision:
When they get back to the trailhead, it’s well into afternoon and Billie needs to get back to her den on the other side of the lake. Lola also lives near Tahoe City and offers her a ride in her electric vehicle. Billie checks Google Maps and sees it’s just as fast to take public transit as it is to take a private vehicle. Now that Tahoe has coordinated signals and bus-only lanes, it’s often cheaper, easier, and more convenient to take public transit. But she opts for extra time with Lola and decides to carpool back to the North Shore.
Lola finds a nearby electric vehicle charging station, and once they’re charged up they cruise back to the North Shore.
The Reality: 2025
The Intelligent Transportation Systems Strategic Plan identifies opportunities for technology to increase transportation efficiency, safety, and balance. Changeable message signs and online apps are just two examples of how technology can improve our transportation system by giving people the real-time information they need. TRPA will be updating this plan this year to identify additional technology needs for the region which will inform the RTP.
The Tahoe Truckee Electric Vehicle Readiness Plan is the blueprint to accelerate transportation electrification in the region. TRPA partnered with the Truckee-Donner Public Utility District and a cross-regional Coordinating Council with the release of an action-oriented readiness plan, providing a road map to strategically deploy electric vehicle infrastructure and user-friendly toolkits. Learn more about the Electric Vehicle Readiness Plan here .
Funding
The Vision:
Billie’s seamless travels around Tahoe through transit, trails, and towns is possible through local, state, tribal, regional, federal, and private partnerships. All of these partners have come together to identify and pursue regional revenue sources that can fund transportation investments and maintain a resilient system for generations to come.
The Reality 2025:
For decades, Tahoe’s transportation system improvements have been funded largely by competitive discretionary grants and limited fixed funds. Building on 25 years of success with the funding model of the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program (EIP), a bi-state working group agreed to pursue a multi-sector funding framework called the 7-7-7 Strategy .
The strategy been successfully implemented, with partners raising $23 million in funding for transportation. However, there is still more work to be done to secure ongoing funding and maintain a resilient transportation system.
Goals & Policies
Regional Transportation Plan goals and policies establish the organizing framework for transportation planning at Lake Tahoe. Click the screen to the right to scroll through the full list of draft goals and policies.
Click below to view the red-line changes to the goals and policies from the 2020 Regional Transportation Plan.
Feedback
During Summer and Fall of 2024, we presented to transportation partners and community-based organizations to solicit feedback on the transportation vision. We asked how you would prioritize projects given limited funding, and this is what we heard from 449 respondents:
Watch the Webinar
Check out the recording of the August 20, 2024 public webinar giving the overview of the Connections 2050 Regional Transportation Plan.
Summary of Outreach over the last four years (2020-2023):
- This community engagement builds upon the extensive outreach that staff has conducted for each of the many plans that lay the groundwork for Regional Transportation Plan goals and recommendations.
- 9,724 participants reached through presentations, workshops, meetings, webinars, and pop-up events
- 6,220 participants reached through surveys, including:
- Tahoe Regional Trails Plan Survey
- Transportation Equity Study Survey
- SR89 Trail Feasibility Study Survey
- Transportation Safety Survey
- Destination Stewardship Survey
- Transit Passengers and Unmet Transit Needs Surveys
Want to see what we’ve already heard? Learn more about how TRPA conducts outreach in the Public Participation Plan.
In the Next Year
The draft Regional Transportation Plan will be available for public comment in Spring 2025. Sign up for our transportation eNews to stay up to date about the Regional Transportation Plan.