Chains, highways, plowing, and driveways in the San Bernardino Mountains
Do I need chains to drive up to Lake Arrowhead or Big Bear in the winter?
Sometimes, and you will not know until you are on the highway. When snow or ice is on the road, Caltrans posts chain controls at checkpoints on the way up, and the level changes with the weather. Carry chains or approved traction devices in the car all winter, even with four wheel drive. Caltrans requires four wheel and all wheel drive vehicles to carry them in a chain control area. Whether you have to put them on depends on the posted level and your vehicle, which the next answer explains. Follow the posted signs and the instructions at the checkpoint.
What do R1, R2 and R3 mean on the chain control signs?
These are Caltrans’s own definitions:
R1: “Chains are required on all vehicles except passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks under 6,000 pounds gross weight and equipped with snow tires on at least two drive wheels.”
R2: “Chains or traction devices are required on all vehicles except four-wheel/all-wheel drive vehicles with snow-tread tires on all four wheels.”
R3: “Chains or traction devices are required on all vehicles, no exceptions.”
Under R1 and R2, any vehicle towing a trailer needs chains on one drive axle, and a trailer with brakes needs chains on at least one axle. The practical lesson for an owner: snow tires on all four wheels of a four wheel drive vehicle get you through R2 without chaining up. Chains still ride in the car.
What are the highways up to Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear?
Five ways up, depending on where you are going. Highway 330 climbs from Highland to Running Springs and is the most popular route to Big Bear. Highway 18 climbs through Waterman Canyon to the Rim of the World communities (Crestline, Twin Peaks, Skyforest, Lake Arrowhead) and continues east. Highway 138 comes up from Interstate 15 past Silverwood Lake to Crestline, a narrow, twisting road rather than a main route. Highway 38 climbs from Redlands to Big Bear. Highway 18 from Lucerne Valley is the climb into Big Bear from the desert side. Big Bear’s own visitor bureau calls the Waterman Canyon route “not recommended in snowy conditions.”
No guide can pick the right road for a particular storm. Chain controls and closures change by the day, so check the conditions before you leave, which the next question covers.
The towns at the top of those routes are covered in the Crestline guide and the Running Springs guide.
How do I check whether the mountain highways are open right now?
Two sources, both from Caltrans. QuickMap shows current chain controls, closures, and incidents on a live map. The Caltrans Highway Information Network answers by phone at 800-427-7623 with conditions by highway number. Check one of them before you leave the valley, not at the base of the grade.
Who plows the street in front of a mountain house?
Four different groups, depending on the road. Caltrans plows the state highways. San Bernardino County Public Works plows county maintained roads. County Special Districts plows roads in the service areas it contracts with. The City of Big Bear Lake and private contractors clear their own roads. Anything else, including every private driveway, is the owner’s job.
The county also plows in an order. In its own words, primary roads such as Lake Gregory Road, Grass Valley Road, and Green Valley Lake Road come first, then the secondary roads that connect to them, “then lastly the local roads, such as the ones you may live on.” After a big storm, a house on a local road waits its turn.
How do I find out whether a house is on a county maintained road?
The county publishes a road maintenance map where you can check whether a road is county maintained or a Special Districts road. Look up the street before you write an offer, not after. If the road is on neither list, find out who maintains it before you go any further.
If a house is on a private road, who pays to plow it?
It depends on the road’s paperwork. A recorded road maintenance agreement, an association, or the easement itself usually decides who arranges the plowing and who pays. Where a road is a private road easement, California Civil Code section 845 sets a default: the owner “shall maintain it in repair,” and where several owners share it without an agreement, the cost is shared “proportionately to the use made of the easement by each owner.”
In practice, some private roads have a working agreement and a contractor on call, and some have neighbors who have never talked about it. Ask the seller for the road maintenance agreement, who plows, and what it cost last winter. The buyer’s guide covers the rest of what to ask.
Where do I park when it snows on the mountain?
Off the street. The county’s snow removal guide says San Bernardino County Code restricts parking on mountain streets when snow conditions exist, and a car in the way of a plow can be cited or towed. County crews cannot move a car themselves; they call the California Highway Patrol, and the county says the tow can take four to six hours per vehicle while the street waits.
Two more things the county is plain about. The ridge of snow the plow leaves across your driveway is yours to clear. And when you shovel, the county asks you to put the snow to the right of your driveway as you face the road, never back into the street.
What should I look at in a mountain driveway before I buy the house?
Look at the driveway the way you would look at the roof, because in January it matters as much. I’m Greg Anderson. I built and remodeled homes for twenty years, and I live in Crestline. Here is what to walk before you make an offer:
Which way it faces. A driveway that faces north stays in shade and holds ice long after a south facing one has melted.
How steep it is, and whether it runs down to the house or up to it. A steep driveway that drops to a garage below the road is the hardest to get out of after a storm.
Where the snow goes. There has to be room to push it without burying the neighbor’s car or the street.
The steps between the car and the front door. Every one of them gets shoveled, salted, and walked in the dark.
Whether there is a garage. A covered space means no scraping, no digging out, and a car that starts.
None of this shows up in listing photos taken in June. If you are looking at a mountain house and want someone who reads it this way, call or text me at (310) 402-8430, email greg@mountaincribs.com, or use the contact page.
Sources
Checked 2026-10-10.
Caltrans, Chain Controls: R1, R2 and R3 definitions, four wheel drive carry rule, trailer rule, 800-427-7623.
Caltrans, QuickMap.
San Bernardino County, Snow Removal FAQs: who plows which roads, plowing order, CHP towing and the four to six hour wait, shoveling to the right.
San Bernardino County Public Works, Snow Removal Guide: County Code parking restriction, driveway berms as the owner’s job, the road maintenance map.
San Bernardino County Public Works, road maintenance map.
California Civil Code section 845, official text.
Visit Big Bear, Roads to Big Bear: Highway 330 as the most popular route, the Waterman Canyon snow warning.
Highway 138 and 18 route geography: Caltrans QuickMap; Wikipedia’s route articles as a secondary cross check only.
