Act of Congress may put Kahle Drive project over the top

Work on Kahle Drive at Stateline could begin next year after $1.385 million in federal community project funding cleared the House Appropriations Committee last week.

Kahle Drive has deteriorated to the point it’s starting to erode into Lake Tahoe.

“The road itself is actually degrading and causing some of the sediment to go into the Lake,” Nevada Tahoe Conservation District Civil Engineer Meghan Kelly told Douglas County commissioners in April. “The impetus for the project was stormwater, making sure that clean stormwater gets to the two county basins at the end of Kahle Drive.”

While part of the Oliver Park General Improvement District, working on the road also means replacing the 65-year-old waterline that lies beneath it that wouldn’t survive the road work.

“When we started looking at everything it sort of opened a can of worms,” Kelly said during a discussion of federal recovery funds.

The entire project is estimated to cost $3.8 million, and Kelly said they have $2.4 million. The final piece was the federal funding announced last week.

Rep. Mark Amodei’s office announced the securing the funding request through the House Committee on Appropriations.

It was one of 15 projects funding in Amodei’s district for a total of $32.2 million.

Amodei said the appropriations committee’s recommendation will go to the House Floor and then to the Senate before the funding is available.

“The entities requesting funding for these projects … have gone through a rigorous process to demonstrate clear community support and prove the specific intent of the funds and benefit to the local area,” he said.

The prospect of federal funding prompted county officials to remove Kahle from the list of American Rescue Plan Act expenditures.