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State Route 207 Kingsbury Grade from the summit down to the Carson Valley floor will be closed to traffic "through the coming weeks" due to a sinkhole caused by an eroding drainage pipe under the roadway.

The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) said the road will remain closed due to traffic safety concerns for the 5,600 vehicles who drive the road daily.

Kingsbury Grade will remain open in the Lake Tahoe area to residential and business traffic between U.S. 50 and Tramway Drive at the summit. Alternative routes between the Carson Valley and Lake Tahoe are available through U.S. 50, State Route 431 and various routes in California.

NDOT has been closely monitoring and will be contracting for emergency repairs to the sinking area of the roadway which developed over the past two weeks where a drainage pipe crosses underneath the road at mile marker 4.3, approximately 10 miles up the road on the Carson Valley side.

“Our priority is keeping Nevadans safe and mobile on our roadways,” NDOT Assistant District Engineer for Maintenance Mike Fuess explained. “We have closed the bottom section of Kingsbury Grade to keep drivers safe. To quickly and safely reopen the road, we will initiate an emergency contract to repair this section of Kingsbury Grade.”

As weather will play a factor, no timeframe for reopening is set, but the closure is anticipated to stay in place through coming weeks. NDOT will announce the re-opening of the road through the media, on nevadadot.com and nvroads.com websites, as well the 511 Nevada Travel Info phone number.

The sinkhole is not in the area where there was a major 2014 construction project to make improvements to roadway surface, drainage and gutters. It is in the area where a $5 million project is planned to make those same improvements beginning in 2019.