The not-so-obvious benefits of new freeway

With the freeway open and the benefit to the motoring public obvious, it's a good time to note some of the benefits that aren't yet so apparent.

One of those drew the attention last week of the Carson City Board of Supervisors, whose members praised the work of Gardeners Reclaiming Our Waysides.

GROW's role in advocating landscaping for the freeway, as well as MusclePowered, which promoted biking and hiking paths, has had a statewide impact on the way the Nevada Department of Transportation designs highways.

There isn't much to see yet - some boulders, the beginnings of a trail, some plantings - and there is work yet to be done to define the southern portion of the freeway. But Mary Fischer's effort to get federal highway dollars and the group's persistence on making the freeway something other than a ribbon of concrete and asphalt through the center of Carson City will be appreciated by future generations.

Also not obvious - until the next downpour - is the tremendous amount of work done at the intersection with Highway 50 to improve stormwater drainage.

Gov. Kenny Guinn pointed out Thursday during his ribbon-cutting remarks that the $40 million spent to channel water away from the business corridor there will be as much a long-term economic benefit to the east side of Carson as the bypass itself.

On a related note, Guinn deserves a hurrah not only for getting the freeway on track but for standing up for the Lubiches and their flooding woes, caused indirectly by highway construction. It's good to have the governor as a neighbor, relatively speaking.

And one more piece of business: We earlier wondered how tourists driving the new freeway would know to stay on Carson Street if they're headed for South Lake Tahoe or Douglas County. Perhaps they'll see the huge green sign on Lakeview Hill directing traffic to downtown Carson, Lake Tahoe and Minden - a sign we obviously missed.