US-50 Echo Summit Sierra Granite Escarpment
At a glance: Graded 87 out of 100 (Tier 4: Steep Mountain & Exposed Coast) across 11.4 miles in Sierra Nevada / Lake Tahoe. High-altitude trans-Sierra highway ascending to 7,382 feet before descending sheer granite cliff switchbacks into the Tahoe Basin.
Why this corridor sits in Tier 4
East of Twin Bridges, US-50 climbs past Horsetail Falls to Echo Summit and immediately descends the Meyers Grade cliff shelf overlooking Christmas Valley. Rapid freeze-thaw pavement transitions, chain-control staging queues, and steep two- and three-lane granite shelf turns produce demanding year-round corridor physics.
Key roadway traits
- 7,382 ft high-altitude pass
- Sheer granite Meyers Grade drop
- Snow, ice, and chain-control zones
Four-factor geometric & crash decomposition
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Connected highway & local crash profiles
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Other Tier 4 California corridors
Methodology & interpretation limits
Complexity Index combines horizontal curvature, sustained elevation grade, speed-transition demand, and 12-month historical reported crash concentration per corridor mile. Counts describe observational public records unadjusted for daily traffic volume and do not represent driving safety advice. Missing-coordinate collision records in surrounding cities are reported separately in live buffered queries and are never plotted at synthetic coordinates.
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