Reno road conditions

Live chain controls and closures on every main road into Reno, every NDOT camera in the Truckee Meadows on one map, and a plain account of which agency answers for which road — because in Reno that question has two answers.

Who answers for which road

Reno sits on a state line, and road conditions here are reported by two agencies that stop where the other starts. It is the single most confusing thing about checking conditions in this town, and most sites do not mention it at all.

Nevada DOT covers everything inside Nevada: US-395 and I-580 through the Truckee Meadows, the Mt Rose Highway, I-80 east from Sparks to Fernley, Lovelock and Winnemucca. Its status lives at nvroads.com, or dial 511 inside Nevada. Caltrans covers the California side, which means the two mountain roads most people mean when they say they are driving to Reno: I-80 over Donner Pass and US-50 over Echo Summit. Its status lives at roads.dot.ca.gov.

The answer at the top of this page reads both: Caltrans for Donner and Echo Summit, NDOT for US-395, I-580, the Mt Rose Highway and I-80 east of the state line. A closure on either side of the line shows up there, with the stretch it covers.

The two Sierra approaches, live

Caltrans does not control a whole road at once. Controls go up at whichever point matches the snow level, which is why the same storm produces controls in different places on different days — I-80 carries 24 control points and US-50 carries 15, and the one in effect moves up and down the grade all day. The ladder is set out on the I-80 page and the US-50 page, and what the levels mean is on R-1, R-2 and R-3 explained.

Reno and Sparks traffic cameras

25 NDOT cameras within 25 miles of downtown — McCarran Boulevard end to end, the Pyramid Highway through Sparks and Spanish Springs, West 4th Street, and the corridor east to the industrial centre. These are the cameras people mean by "NDOT traffic cameras Reno"; they refresh as stills, and clicking one opens its own page with the full-size image and the nearest forecast.

26 NDOT cameras around Reno and Sparks. Click a marker to open the camera.

All 40 Reno webcams → The group also carries 14 NDOT cameras further out along US-95 and US-50 Alt — Fernley, Fallon, Yerington, Schurz and Walker Lake — which are Nevada roads but not Reno traffic.

What actually closes around Reno, and when

Chain-control season on I-80 and US-50 runs roughly November to March, and in a normal winter Donner gets controls on a few dozen days and closes outright on a handful. The closures that strand people are rarely the forecast ones: an over-the-side truck on the grade shuts I-80 in both directions for hours with no warning and no alternate worth taking, which is why the answer at the top of this page is dated to the minute rather than written once in October.

Inside Nevada the pattern is different. Reno is at 4,500 feet in a rain shadow and its streets are ploughed, so the city itself rarely stops. What stops is the climb out of it. SR-431, the Mt Rose Highway, is the highest year-round pass in the Sierra Nevada and takes controls while US-395 below it is still bare pavement — if you are heading for Incline Village or Mt Rose Ski Tahoe, that is the road to check, and it is NDOT's. US-395 and I-580 through Washoe Valley close for wind and blowing snow far more often than for depth, and the stretch south toward Carson City is where that happens.

Eastbound, I-80 out of Sparks is open country. The pinch points are past Fernley — Golconda, Emigrant and Pequop — and they close for drifting and zero visibility rather than snow depth, sometimes on a day when Reno is dry and sunny. There is no practical alternate; I-80 is the only through route across northern Nevada.

If you are driving here from California

From Sacramento, I-80 is the road: about two and a half hours in summer, and anything from three hours to not-today in a storm. US-50 over Echo Summit is the alternate, but it is the alternate for everybody, and a storm big enough to close Donner usually has Echo Summit under R-2 at the same time. If both are shut there is no third way over the Sierra at this latitude — the next crossings are SR-88 over Carson Pass to the south and SR-70 over Beckwourth to the north, and both are higher, narrower and slower to reopen.

Two things worth doing before you leave: check the pass camera rather than the forecast, because a summit that looks clear at 9 a.m. is the same summit that goes to R-2 at noon; and carry chains that fit your car whether or not you intend to fit them, because R-2 with no chains in the boot means turning round at the control point. What to put in the car is on what to carry, and the drive itself is written up on Reno to Sacramento.

Common questions

Who reports road conditions in Reno — NDOT or Caltrans?

Both, and they stop at the state line. NDOT has everything inside Nevada, at nvroads.com or 511; Caltrans has the California side, including Donner and Echo Summit, at roads.dot.ca.gov. A storm that closes Donner is a Caltrans closure even though everyone in Reno feels it.

Do I need chains to drive to Reno?

Only if you are crossing the Sierra. Reno's own streets are ploughed, not chain-controlled. The controls are on the climb — Baxter and Kingvale on I-80, Twin Bridges and Echo Summit on US-50 — and they move with the snow level. R-1, R-2 and R-3 are what the signs mean.

Which roads out of Reno close first?

The Mt Rose Highway, every time. Then Donner and Echo Summit. US-395 and I-580 through the Truckee Meadows close for wind rather than snow, and rarely.

Every road we track

• I-80

  Sacramento to the Utah line, over Donner Pass and across northern Nevada.

• US-395

  The north–south spine through Reno and Carson City.

• SR-431 Mt Rose

  Reno to Incline Village, the highest year-round pass in the Sierra.

• US-50

  Reno and Carson City to South Lake Tahoe and on to Sacramento.

• All nine highways and 274 cameras

  Chain controls, closures and cameras on every road we cover.

• Is I-80 open right now?

  How to read a chain-control sign, a camera and a feed that disagree.

Chain-control status and closures: Caltrans District 3 (public domain), Nevada DOT / nvroads.com and Caltrans District 9 (public domain). Camera images: Nevada DOT / nvroads.com. Weather: National Weather Service — not an official NWS product. Always confirm at roads.dot.ca.gov or nvroads.com (or dial 511 in Nevada) before you travel.