Commentary:Interstate 80 key to winter fun for Placer residents

Growing up in San Clemente, I'd never been to the snow. In a family of six, it was much easier and cheaper to drive two minutes to the beach rather than pack the half-dozen of us, along with our gear, into the Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera and drive three hours to a mountain. However, I'd always been intrigued by winter sports: cross-country skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing. In fact, one of the many reasons I chose to attend Chico State University was that it was closer in proximity to the snow and I might be able to try my luck at some of these winter sports. Despite my university choice, ironically, I didn't learn to cross-country ski for another 20 years after I graduated from college! In all seriousness though, living in south Placer County, we're blessed to reside so close to world-class skiing destinations. And while it was much easier for my parents to take myself and my three brothers to the beach, it's much easier for me to take my family to the snow. In 2019, Visit Placer commissioned proprietary qualitative and quantitative research that found Interstate 80 was one of our county's biggest tourism assets. While all of us here in Placer County know I-80 well, very few of us have thought of it as one of our most important aspects of tourism, connecting both ends of the county and providing easy access to virtually every asset we have. I-80 is what makes it possible for most of us, and those from Sacramento or the Bay Area, to reach places such as Royal Gorge, Sugar Bowl, Palisades at Tahoe, Alpine Meadows and Northstar California Resort. It serves as the spine of our county. Now, most of us are well-aware of the challenges I-80 faces, the critical improvements that are needed and the lack of funding to make them. But thinking about I-80 in the context of tourism and as one of our most important assets, fueling one of our largest economic sectors, ensuring its long-term functionality shouldn't be up for debate. If you're trying to get up the hill to enjoy the outdoors and take advantage of the snow, you know I-80 is just one key factor. Once I-80 delivers you to the high Sierra, getting around is crucial. In the last several years, the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Placer County Transportation Planning Agency, Palisades Tahoe, Alpine Meadows and Placer County have worked together to improve the mobility experience for visitors. Some of these include the Tahoe Truckee Regional Area Transit (TART) system, which this season has expanded to include TART Connect, an app-based on-demand service; and Squaw Alpine Transit Company's Mountaineer program, which is an app-based on-demand shuttle service that is funded, in part, by a one-percent lift ticket and lodging assessment, with additional connections between Olympic Valley and Tahoe City on Friday and Saturday evenings. We're lucky we can enjoy the outdoors in our own backyard. Whether it's cross-country skiing at Royal Gorge, boarding at Palisades or sledding at Donner Summit with the use of a SNO-Park Pass, for those who grew up here or those of us raising families here, we have a pristine setting for quintessential winter moments that are the basis for lifetime memories. This setting comes with a responsibility, though: we must continue to be good stewards of the land and the infrastructure to ensure it remains a world-class destination. Cherri Spriggs is the president of Visit Placer.