After several days of closure due to record snowfall, Highway 50 has reopened in and out of the Lake Tahoe area, but only for essential travel.
There are still shortages of supplies and gas after the road was closed for so long, said Angela DaPrato, a Caltrans spokesperson told KCBS Radio in an interview Thursday morning.
"That is an issue for travelers that they may come upon, so right now we are asking for only essential travel, just due to those factors," she said.
Crews have been working around the clock since the snowstorm began last week to clear the roads, with around 1,350 Caltrans employees, working in rotating 24-hour shifts. "We have been staffing the Sierra area with a lot of different maintenance crews in the area," she said.
"This is going to be a big, big, big push here for us to open U.S. 50 and I-80," said DaPrato.
Another reason for the limited opening on the roadways is that emergency personnel and work crews need to be able to get from one place to another fairly quickly, which isn't possible when the roads are clogged with traffic.
The dry conditions on Thursday are likely to help the continued efforts make more progress, she said.
DaParto advised against drivers from taking alternative routes to get where they need to go, as crews haven't had the same ability to focus on clearing local roads.
"If you stay on main routes, you should be good, but if you go anywhere else right now, you may just be stuck," she said.
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