Road work gridlocks South Carson Street

A marathon paving session to create a third southbound lane from Costco to Jacks Valley Road stymied traffic Friday afternoon on Carson Street and even Silver Sage Drive.

South Carson Street was not the place to be from 1 to 3 p.m.

One state employee clocked off 45 minutes to get from Stewart Street to Applebee's.

"It's a nightmare," the anonymous driver said in a cell phone call from the traffic quagmire. "People are just going nuts. They're agitated and beeping their horns."

The Nevada Department of Transportation banked on a marathon paving session to create the third lane into Douglas County. What the state didn't count on was crippling traffic to a lethargic crawl with only one lane, spokesman Scott Magruder said.

"We wanted to get them out of there in one day," Magruder said.

Frehner Construction started work about 7 p.m. Thursday but the highway started to clog by 1 p.m. Friday. The state decided to stop work at 3 p.m. and finish next week.

Magruder said a majority of the paving was completed and traffic problems should be minimal next week.

The state rushed to finish the third lane before Costco's projected Nov. 10 opening. Magruder said by then the new traffic signal at Old Clear Creek Road should be directing traffic to and from Costco and Fuji Park.

The third lane is part of a 12-mile, $10 million Highway 395 repaving project predominantly in Douglas County. The work started in late June and will stop this month until weather warms up in spring, Magruder said.

Nearly all the work at the Carson City end has been done at night to keep traffic disruptions minimal.

The paving marathon, however, even clasped Silver Sage Drive in gridlock from Koontz Lane to Colorado Street. Back on Carson Street, the anonymous state employee checked his watch as his car idled by Applebee's.

"I was supposed to be in Gardnerville at the dentist by 3," he said at 2:50 p.m. "I don't think I'm going to make it."