Southbound traffic reduced to one lane near Lakeview this weekend

For the second week in a row, traffic will bottleneck on Highway 395 at Lakeview Hill today and Sunday. But this time it'll affect those coming into Carson City.

Southbound traffic will be reduced to one lane at the Lakeview interchange to just before Arrowhead Drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today and Sunday because of paving.

Ames Construction will also be grinding that portion of the road from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. today, Sunday and Tuesday, Nevada Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Magruder said.

"The good news about doing it on the weekend is the traffic counts can be lower, especially when there are no special events, like Street Vibrations," he said.

A portion of the northbound lanes was paved Thursday and Friday, except for a small section on Lakeview Hill, Magruder said.

The paving project is part of the $70 million freeway construction from Highway 395 at Arrowhead Drive to Highway 50 East. That length of the new freeway will be open to traffic in April.

The next phase, from Highway 50 to Fairview Drive, will cost $40 million and construction will begin in 2006. It's planned to be completed in 2008.

The last section to Highway 50 at Spooner, an $80 million project, should go to bid while the previous phase is in construction. It's planned to be completed in 2010.

Full interchanges will be constructed at Highway 50 East, at Fairview Drive and at the Highway 50 -Spooner junction at the South Carson Street intersection.

Grade separation structures will be constructed at Fifth Street, Koontz Lane, Clearview Drive and Snyder Avenue. The separations will allow traffic to pass over the freeway with no access provided to the freeway.

Because of funding, the southern project will be constructed in two stages. The first will include the completion of the interchange at Highway 50 East, a partial interchange at Fairview Drive, the grade separated crossing at Fifth Street, the Linear Ditch Park multi-use path, storm drainage facilities and roadway improvements.

The second phase will include completion of the Fairview Drive interchange, construction of the interchange at South Carson Street, the grade separated crossings at Koontz Lane, Clearview Drive and Snyder Avenue, the remainder of the freeway drainage system, sound walls and completion of the roadway.