Road construction corners South Shore, Carson Valley

STATELINE - Summertime visitors are here, and so is Lake Tahoe's construction season - always an intense combination.

-- Work to replace a section of pressurized pipe that exports treated sewer water out of the Lake Tahoe Basin is on track and scheduled to be out of the roadway by June 30. Construction has limited traffic on Highway 89 near Luther Pass to one lane for about a month.

The old export line has remained in use since work began to install the new pipeline. By the time the bulk of the work for the $5 million project is done in October, 5,000 feet of pipe will stretch 1,500 feet over Luther Pass.

-- Road construction on the valley side of Kingsbury Grade that involved the installation of guard rails and now involves the installation of storm drains is scheduled to be completed by Oct. 4.

Scott Magruder, spokesman for the Nevada Department of Transportation, said he has received complaints about delays caused by the $4.8 million project. Construction is scheduled to occur Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Work started last summer.

-- Work to replace the rusty retaining walls that support the lakeside of Highway 50 between Borne Meadow and Cave Rock will continue through October and carry over into the following construction season. More than $10 million worth of work, which began in 2002, is needed to replace the retaining walls and improve drainage in the area, according to Magruder.

Also, a $2 million resurfacing and drainage project on Highway 50 between Stateline and Elks Point Road could begin sometime in July, depending how quickly the construction bid is awarded, he said.

-- A construction project to reconfigure the South Lake "Y" and improve its appearance has been postponed until spring. The $1.2 million set aside for the project fell short of the $1.6 million needed to pay contractors to do the work.

South Lake Tahoe principal civil engineer Stephen Peck said the work at the intersection by SBC, Sierra Pacific and Charter Communications coupled with the requirement that all the construction be done at night increased the cost of the project by $400,000.

Peck said he plans to hunt down more federal grants to fund the project, but that he expects the cost of the project to decrease next spring when there is less work going on at the "Y."

In the Carson Valley, a traffic light will be in place by the end of summer assuring safe passage to the Kingsbury Grade access to Lake Tahoe. A signal light will be installed at Waterloo Avenue and Mottsville Lane on State Route 88.

The project includes paving from the state line to Mackland Avenue. At Mottsville and Waterloo, a full traffic signal will be installed along with north- and south-bound acceleration lanes.

That project is expected to be awarded by July and completed by the end of summer. Magruder said very few traffic delays are expected.

The resurfacing of Highway 395 with an open grade from Waterloo Lane to just north of Leviathan Mine Road is moving along well.

"They are wrapping up and just about done," he said of NDOT crews working the road out of Gardnerville. "It should be done in the next two, three weeks."

The $4.1 million project includes resurfacing of the highway asphalt.