City trims freeway designs, contractors bidding

Contractors from as far away as Washington and Minnesota have shown interests in Carson City's freeway.

The Nevada Department of Transportation advertised for bids for the first part of the freeway in December. A contractor will be chosen Jan. 27, state transportation spokesman Scott Magruder said.

Phase IA of the freeway is a $15.3 million bridge construction project which includes bridges at College Parkway, Emerson Drive, Northgate Lane and Arrowhead Drive.

Fourteen contractors have requested information on the project. Northern Nevada contractors interested in the freeway include Q&D Construction of Reno, Accurate Companies and Granite Construction of Sparks and Ames Construction of Carlin.

Construction should begin on the bridges in March or April. The contractor will have a year from the time the project bid is awarded to finish the bridge construction project.

Construction is slated on the northern leg, which extends from Lakeview Hill to Highway 50 East, from 2000 to 2003. The second freeway leg from Highway 50 East to the Spooner Summit Junction is expected to begin in 2004 and be finished in 2007.

Although construction is years away on the southern leg, public comment is being sought for the new design to the southern interchange.

A meeting for residents to review the design and and ask questions will be Jan. 18 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Carson City Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall next to Fuji Park.

The meeting will be open so the public can attend at any time. State officials will be on hand to answer questions regarding the freeway and the interchange.

The state was forced to change the interchange's design after the $5.8 million Serpa land decision in October, which valued land at the intersection around $22 a square foot. The state had set aside a conservative $6.2 million for right-of-way acquisition and couldn't afford to tangle with more uncertain right-of-way costs.

The previous design was a complex swirl of lanes weaving between Highway 395, Highway 50 and Carson Street. The new design is a slimmer single point urban interchange, which is comparable to the intersections of Interstate 80 at Keystone and Interstate 80 at Pyramid Way in Reno. The trimmed design puts the intersection into existing right-of-way, eliminates the needs for frontage roads and avoids the Comstock Mobile Home Park.