While Gov. Jim Gibbons stood before reporters and snipped a ribbon marking the completion of grading of USA Parkway across Storey County last week, Vince Griffith was thinking about the next seven miles of the parkway.
Griffith, the president of Reno Engineering Corp., wasn't alone in thinking of the time that an estimated 1,400 trucks a day will travel on USA Parkway as it cuts through Tahoe Reno Industrial Center from Interstate 80 to Silver Springs.
But he was thinking, too, of his plans to develop trucking-related facilities along USA Parkway less than a mile south of its junction with I-80.
Already, Griffith has developed a busy fueling station, which is operated by Golden Gate Petroleum, and about 9,000 square feet of commercial space designed to house a cafe, insurance agencies and other services needed by truckers as well as workers at the sprawling industrial center.
The commercial building is the first phase of a 40,000-square-foot complex at the site.
"This is the downtown of Tahoe Reno Industrial Center," says Chris Martin, a Reno real estate broker who's active in the area.
Next up, says Griffith, is development of truck-related facilities on three acres he owns next to the fueling station and nine acres he controls nearby.
Griffith's engineering firm has designed much of the infrastructure at Tahoe Reno Industrial Center - including the 10-mile stretch of USA Parkway from I-80 to the Storey-Lyon county line.
Engineering design of the final seven miles of the road through Lyon County to the junction of USA Parkway and Highway 50 is largely complete, Griffith says.
Its construction awaits approval of state and federal agencies as well as agreement between the private owners of the property.
"It's going to take some time to do all the paperwork," Griffith says. "But as far as the construction work, this will be 10 times easier than what we have built already."
If all goes well, he said the road might be completed within three years.
When it's finished, USA Parkway will shorten by 10 miles the distance traveled by motorists who currently use Interstate 80 and Highway 50.
That's a big deal to truckers, who would save an estimated two gallons of fuel each time they use the shorter route. Assuming 1,400 trucks a day use the route, that would amount to an annual saving of 511,000 gallons a year.