Frequently asked questions

How is TahoeDrive different from QuickMap and NV Roads?

TahoeDrive pulls the official data together into the answer you're actually after: is your route to the resort open, delayed, chained up, or closed, and who said so. No map to read, no roads to find, one answer even when the drive crosses the state line. The road conditions we show are all on QuickMap and NV Roads somewhere, if you know where to look and how to read them. If we ever disagree with them, believe them.

TahoeDrive also does what a map you have to open can't: it notifies you when chains go up or the road closes, keeps showing the last known conditions when cell service drops, and keeps the detail behind each status a tap away when you want it.

Won't Google Maps or Apple Maps warn me?

Turn-by-turn navigation is built to estimate drive time, not to know about chain requirements or storm closures, so it can happily route you into a chain-control checkpoint or a closed pass and call it "12 minutes." We read the official chain-control, closure, and incident feeds that navigation apps don't, so you know whether the road is actually passable, not just how long it would take if it were. Keep using it for the drive itself; we're the check on the mountain section at the end.

Is this an official source?

No. TahoeDrive is independent and unofficial. We read the official feeds (Caltrans, CHP, Nevada DOT, NWS, and more) and reconcile them for your route, which saves you checking five sites before a trip but never replaces them.

Where does the data come from?

Official feeds, read directly: Caltrans chain control and closures, Caltrans text reports, electronic highway signs, CHP and NV Roads incidents, snow plow activity, RWIS road sensors, NWS weather, and traffic cameras.

How current is the information?

Conditions refresh every few minutes from the source feeds, and every reading is timestamped so you can see how fresh it is. Official feeds do sometimes go quiet or fall behind, most often mid-storm, so we track how old each source's reading is and stop leaning on one once it's too stale to trust.

How accurate is it?

We follow the official source that owns each road, and bring in the others when they know something it doesn't, like a collision the chain-control feed never carries. Sources disagree more often than you'd expect, because each one is built for a different job and updates on its own clock. When they conflict, we show that rather than quietly pick a winner. It's a planning aid, not a guarantee. Obey posted signs and restrictions.

Which resorts are covered?

We cover fourteen Tahoe resorts: Heavenly, Kirkwood, Sierra-at-Tahoe, Palisades Tahoe, Northstar, Mt. Rose, Diamond Peak, Homewood, Granlibakken, Sugar Bowl, Boreal, Donner Ski Ranch, Soda Springs, and Tahoe Donner, plus two nearby: Bear Valley and Dodge Ridge. Pick yours in the app to see route-by-route conditions.

How much of the drive do you cover?

The mountain section: each highway from the bottom of the climb up. On the west side that's Hwy 88 from Jackson, Hwy 50 from Placerville, I-80 from Colfax, Hwy 4 from Angels Camp, and Hwy 108 from Sonora. On the east it's NV-431 from Reno, US-50 from Carson City, NV-207 from Carson Valley, and I-80 and Hwy 88 from the Nevada state line.

Below that your navigation app is the better tool, and we don't try to replace it. Think of us as the check on the mountain stretch, run before you commit to the drive. Open here means the mountain highways are open, not that the whole trip is clear.

How do alerts work?

Pick the routes you care about and we'll push a notification when chain controls go up or the road closes, no account needed. In the app, tap the bell on any route card. On iPhone, open the app at live.tahoedrive.app and add it to your home screen from there: iOS only delivers push notifications to apps installed that way, not from this site.

Push is best-effort: a notification can be late or never arrive, so treat a quiet phone as no news, not good news. Obey posted signs and restrictions.

Does it work offline?

Yes. It keeps showing the last known conditions it managed to fetch when cell service drops, and quietly updates itself whenever a signal comes back, so you're never staring at a blank screen on a dead stretch of highway. Open the app at live.tahoedrive.app and add it to your home screen from there so it's one tap away.

Is it free?

Yes. No account, no subscription. We built it because we wanted something like this for our own drives up to the snow, and we pay to keep it running.

What are chain controls?

Chain controls require chains to drive that stretch of highway, and a checkpoint stops every vehicle to check. California posts three levels, R1 through R3. Nevada posts the same three in words rather than letters, and the details differ slightly by state, so obey the posted signs:

• R1Chains required, except vehicles with snow tires on the drive wheels.
• R2Chains required on all vehicles except 4WD/AWD with snow tires on all four wheels.
• R3Chains on every vehicle, no exceptions.

In all three, "chains" means any approved traction device, cables included.

Carry chains even if your snow tires mean you don't have to put them on: controls step up mid-storm, and what counts is the level posted when you reach the checkpoint. Signs give about a mile of warning, skipping an active control is citable, and vehicles that don't comply are turned around at the checkpoint. Fit chains only at signed areas or turnouts, off the roadway; inside the control the limit drops to 25 or 30 mph.

We show both states' postings as R1/R2/R3 and flag when a control is active on your route. See also what 4WD gets you and where to buy chains. For each state's own wording: Caltrans chain controls and NDOT traction and chain requirements.

Do I need chains if I have 4WD or AWD?

Yes, in the car. At R2, the common posting, 4WD and AWD skip fitting chains only with snow tires on all four wheels, and California requires a set in the car anyway. The tires need the M+S stamp and real tread, at least 6/32 of an inch, and officers check. R3 exempts nobody. At R1, snow tires alone keep chains off your tires, though California still requires them in the car.

Carry chains that fit whenever you drive to the snow, 4WD or not, even if the valley looks clear.

Where do I get chains, and who fits them?

Buy them before you leave home: mountain-town stock sells out mid-storm and costs far more. Cables and other approved traction devices count.

Installers work the larger control points and will fit or remove chains for a posted cash price, charged again at the far end. They can't sell or rent chains, so arrive with your own, and ask for a receipt with the badge number.

Most rental agreements prohibit chains, so an AWD or 4WD rental on M+S tires is the way to clear an R2. At R3 nothing but chains works, and by then the road is often closed.

The road is closed. How long will it stay closed?

Nobody knows, and be wary of anything that claims to. Caltrans and NDOT rarely publish a reopening estimate: it depends on when the snow stops, how fast plows get through, and how long spun-out vehicles take to clear. A closure can lift in an hour, hold overnight, or run for days behind avalanche work.

We show when it closed, what the agency has said since, and whether another route to your resort is open. Turn on alerts to hear when it reopens. Whether going around it is realistic is the next question.

Can I use side roads to get around a closure or stopped traffic?

Sometimes, but not by taking the exit your navigation app offers while you sit in the line. Everyone ahead of you has to clear the same checkpoint or closed stretch, and the side road very likely rejoins the highway before it, or doesn't go through at all. Your navigation app is picking the fastest line across roads it assumes are open, with no idea which ones are plowed, gated, or drifted over.

Those roads are also cleared last, after the main and emergency routes, and the ones that look like a way around, a forest road or an old highway alignment, are likely gated for the season or shut by the same storm. Cell service fades, there's nowhere to turn around, and a tow takes hours when every truck is already working the highway.

A real alternate is a different highway, chosen before you leave: another summit, its own chain controls, an extra hour or two. Not every drive has one, and on some, like the I-80 approaches, the alternates are hours out of the way. Storms tend to close them together, so sitting it out usually beats driving to the next pass. The app shows every route to your resort, so you can see whether an alternate is actually open.