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I just returned from the Lake Tahoe area after spending the week at a cabin on the edge of the Desolation Wilderness, an incredibly beautiful natural area on the west side of the lake. But within a 20-minute drive of where we stayed is the city of South Lake Tahoe, one of the worst examples of human settlement anywhere.

As has been the case in many places across the country, the development of this area took place in a time when the automobile was the dominant way to get around. U.S. Route 50 approaches Lake Tahoe over a high mountain pass near the southwest corner of the lake basin, and winds along the southern and southeastern shore before going over the eastern rim of the basin and down toward Carson City and Reno.

As more people discovered the incredible beauty and recreational opportunities of this area in the 1950s an explosion of uncontrolled “strip development” occurred along Highway 50, extending for six to seven miles along the southern shore of the lake. Every property owner wanted to take advantage of the right to access a state highway and develop as the opportunity arose.

Over time this produced a linear “city” with no sidewalks or other walking connections along a five-lane road, with no bypass alternatives. Virtually any trip one wants to make has to be by auto along this strip, and the traffic congestion for most of the day, every day, is horrendous.

While this kind of development pattern occurs all across the country, it is particularly jarring, and tragic, here in contrast to the beauty of the setting. The legacy of this type of development will, unfortunately, be with us for a very long time and represents the biggest challenge facing the planning community nationwide.