More freeway preparation work to come

Work to relocate water and sewer lines now in the planned path of the Carson City Freeway will cost the city more than $4 million.

The Board of Supervisors approved agreements with the state Thursday to move utility lines away from the future path of the freeway. The city will be contributing up to $50 million to the entire freeway project, said Andrew Burnham, the city's development services director.

"I'd like to see Las Vegas or Reno step up," said Mayor Marv Teixeira in response to the amount of money and time the city has pledged toward the freeway.

"That's about a thousand dollars per capita," Supervisor Shelly Aldean commented.

The city's population is roughly 58,000.

The two utility-relocation projects are in the Phase 2A portion of the freeway. One site is the area from East Fifth Street and the Linear Park Ditch to the Wastewater Treatment Plant and the work will cost $6.4 million; the other section runs from Colorado Street to the ditch and will cost $3.1 million. The Nevada Department of Transportation is expected to reimburse more than $5.5 million to the city for the work. NDOT takes care of the cost to do required work in areas within city rights-of-way and easements, Burnham said.

More freeway-related road work will require closure of Fairview Drive from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday between Roop Street and Carson streets, weather permitting.

The restriping and resurfacing is to accommodate the increased number of cars that will travel through the site once that portion of the freeway is complete, Burnham said.

Some minor work on Fairview Drive near its intersection with South Carson Street on Saturday will be done to prepare for the road work on Sunday, and requires temporary closure of one lane at a time.

The Fairview interchange is expected to open in 2008. The interchange at Fairview will be the only place to get on or off the freeway between Highway 50 and the Carson/Spooner interchange.

The full freeway span should be finished in December 2010, when it connects to Highway 50 near the base of Spooner Summit.

• Contact reporter Terri Harber at tharber @nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 215.

In other business, the supervisors

• Approved adding responsibilities to the Regional Transportation Commission and Carson Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. These panel members - including two city supervisors - now will have oversight of street maintenance, bid awards and property acquisitions. Eminent domain is not included. Supervisors Shelly Aldean and Richard Staub now sit on these panels.

• Heard a report about overpaid insurance premiums, and found out the city will be receiving more than $152,000 in reimbursements from St. Mary's HealthFirst, the city's health insurance provider since June 2003.

• Approved a plan to institute drug testing of new city employees starting Nov. 1. This was one of the supervisors' stated goals for the year.

• Accepted the bid recommendation for work on the Health Services Building at 900 E. Long St. so the city's health services clinic and other operations can move in early next year.

• Offered no suggestions regarding changes in a plan to reduce the amount of arsenic in seven of the city's drinking water wells by January 2009.