SILVER SPRINGS - According to the word about town, a proposed 18-mile parkway between Highway 50 East and Interstate 80 could be completed by 2010. This information is built on some fact and a lot more speculation, said Silver Springs Airport Manager Kay Bennett.
If it's true, the area's rural residents can expect a 15-20 minute shave off their commutes to Reno.
For the small-town airport, it could mean a tarmac full of shiny, sleek corporate jets.
Bennett's airport could host the jets owned by Tahoe Reno Industrial Center executives and the air freight for the developing business. The proposed four-lane USA Parkway is a quick route between the Silver Springs area and the expansive Storey County industrial center.
"(The parkway) will open an extremely important access point to TRI for their air freight transportation," Bennett said Monday.
Highway 805, otherwise known as USA Parkway, will connect Interstate 80 at Tracy with Highway 50 at the Ramsey-Weeks Cutoff, which is down the road from the airport. The new road will traverse the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, which is owned by Lance Gilman and Roger Norman.
Gilman said Monday the rumors aren't that far off. He's expecting the road to make it to Lyon County in the next 36 months and it'll cost from $80 million to $100 million. The first four miles of construction cost the builders $880 a foot, which includes infrastructure.
The 102,000-acre industrial center has 20,000 acres in Lyon County. The sale of the Lyon property should close later this month. The new owners would then construct the road through their property and up to Highway 50. Gilman declined to release further information on the buyers.
Ray Johnson, a Silver Springs organic farmer, said he hasn't heard many people in a town of 7,500 complain about the possibility of USA Parkway development.
"I believe people here want development," he said. Johnson has been on the Lyon County Planning Commission for 15 years. "They are looking for the services, such as a grocery store, a bank. We used to have an ATM in Piper's Casino, but now that it's being remodeled we haven't had one since December."
In the past, high-density developments have been criticized by Silver Springs residents who worry about the encroachment on their rural living, and on strained services.
Gilman said water and sewer services would be extended to the development in Lyon County from his center.
USA Parkway is a private project, funded mostly by the industrial center.
-- Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.
USA Parkway
Estimated cost: $80 million-$100 million
Where: From a $14 million interchange at Interstate 80, now under construction, the roadway then spans the Truckee River and the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. The next four miles of road going south into Storey County are 90 percent completed. Another 11/2 miles is awaiting paving. Work on the remaining nine miles to the Storey/Lyon county line has not yet begun. The parkway goes through Tahoe Reno Industrial Center.
Several businesses have located in the center, including:
Wal-Mart distribution center
CalKan, a pet food manufacturer
Royal Sierra Plastics
West Cerac, which manufactures the ceramic coating on space shuttles
SanMar, a supplier of wholesale apparel
Dell computers
Hardie Building Products