Kings Beach Commercial Core Improvement Project earns ‘Best in Basin’ award

Published on October 29, 2018

The Kings Beach Commercial Core Improvement Project has received Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s coveted ‘Best in Basin’ award for its exceptional planning, implementation and compatibility with Tahoe’s natural environment - transforming the community with much - improved pedestrian and bicycle mobility.

“Our county is committed to the health of our natural resources, community mobility and economic viability in Lake Tahoe. The commercial core project was a huge undertaking that involved multiple agencies and community members working together to provide the outcome we have today,” said Dan LaPlante, Placer County’s project manager for the project.

“We are honored to receive this award from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency on a project that encompasses our shared vision of maintaining a sustainable, healthy and safe Lake Tahoe for future generations.”

The Kings Beach Commercial Core Improvement Project was a $50 million initiative to improve, enrich and revitalize Kings Beach. The project includes roadway, sidewalk, lighting, landscaping and water quality improvements designed to create a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly commercial center in the heart of Kings Beach.

Specifically, it reconfigured and rebuilt state Route 28 through downtown with 10-foot sidewalks, class-2 bike lanes and public bus pull outs and patron shelters. This created more complete access between the public sidewalks and the private businesses along both sides of the highway from one end of town to the other, where before access was limited.

The project also reduced the highway from four lanes to two, installed two new roundabouts to calm traffic and provided public parking facilities throughout the commercial core area. Finally, it improved the grid of county roads adjacent to the highway with stormwater filtration infrastructure, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, new parking lots and traffic calming measures.

“This exceptional project really stands out because of its comprehensive improvements for the Kings Beach community,” said Tahoe Regional Planning Agency public information officer Tom Lotshaw. “With sidewalks and bike lanes, traffic calming measures, landscaping, and infrastructure to reduce stormwater pollution, Placer County and its partners really stepped up to deliver a tremendous roadway improvement for the Kings Beach community.”

The annual awards are given to projects around the lake that improve environmental and economic health in the basin and its surrounding communities.

You can learn more about the project.

Learn more about the ‘Best in Basin’ awards.