Drivers Stuck On Highway 50 Making The Most Of It
FRESH POND (CBS13) —CHP estimated it would take drivers eight to 10 hours on HIghway 50 to get to South Lake Tahoe. The winter storm dumping feet of snow on mountain roads over several days before the weekend. CHP issuing a statement reading in part:
The main issue they say is people are still trying to drive up the without chains and can't find places to buy them along the way.
And there were also avalanche warnings forcing Cal-Trans to hold traffic for hours.
"Can't make it up the hill, this is as far as we got," said Gary Jellis, who pulled over along with hundreds of other drivers at a gas station in Fresh Pond, just past 4,000 feet up on Highway 50. People passed the time there sledding with family and friends on a back lot hill.
"We were stuck at chain control for like an hour and a half, and then avalanche control for two hours, so we decided to come back and turn around instead," said Boris Sverdlik as he watched his kids play in the snow.
"It's fun, they're having a blast, it's great," he said.
The weather proved great for one local business.
"Oh, absolutely non stop," said Valerie Massey, a cashier at the station convenience store.
The store located perfectly to cash in on travelers with nowhere else to go.
"It has been absolutely crazy," Massey said. "It has been out of control, freeways on and off shut down, opening. People playing, people mad, definitely good business," she said.
But with weather conditions deteriorating overnight, CHP advised travelers it was best to stay home.
