Truckee residents are concerned about the safety of the Mousehole, especially the lack of bike lanes and a pedestrian walkway. According to Town Engineer, Dan Wilkins, the structure is "functionally obsolete," which is defined as not having adequate width, shoulders, and pedestrian facilities.

The Nevada County Transportation Commission recommended upgrades in the late 1990's. The improvements included a pedestrian bore and a second traffic bore, or the construction of a new railroad bridge to completely replace the Mousehole through which Highway 89 passes in two lanes.

In 2003 when Caltrans allocated $498,000 in state funds to do additional project analysis, the Town of Truckee agreed to take the lead in the construction of upgrades. However, Caltrans funding was frozen shortly after the allocation.

Last year, the Federal Surface Transportation Reauthorization earmarked $2,820,000 for project development due to lobbying by the Town to US House of Representatives,' John Doolittle. Construction funding still needs to be raised for the project.

Town workload requirements to get project approval and environmental documents, the first step, will now be reduced from 3,000 hours to 500 hrs with Caltrans assigned as the lead agency. The difference in hours is due to a change from running the process to merely participating in the process, according to Wilkins.

Truckee resident Denny Dickinson stated: "I thinks it's a good idea to give this back to Caltrans as they have the expertise and knowledge how to do this." But Dickinson cautioned that the town must still keep a fire burning under Caltrans to keep the project going.

Vice-Mayor Richard Anderson questioned Wilkins about the will and interest of Caltrans in the project.

Wilkens responded that Caltrans has the interest in moving the project further into project development with the Federal funding, but he acknowledged that the future was unclear because much additional funding will be needed. He stated that Caltrans does have the resources to possibly move the project further on down the road.

The bottom line is that physical changes to the historic and antiquated Mousehole are unlikely anytime soon.     --By Stephanie Rogerson

Mousehole photos by Mark MeLaughlin