Convention Center Drive given green light

A & K Earth Movers was awarded a contract by the Fallon City Council Tuesday night to construct a roadway around Western Nevada College and the Fallon Convention Center.

Council members voted unanimously to provide a green light for the $768,000 Convention Center Drive project. The new road will connect Auction Road and Venturacci Lane on a route along the perimeter of the convention center and WNC Fallon Campus parking lot area.

“This is a great project; a long-awaited project,” Mayor Ken Tedford Jr. said during the council’s regularly scheduled meeting.

Fallon-based A & K Earth Movers was the only firm to bid on the 90-day contract, City Engineer Jim Souba informed council members. The project will be paid for from Regional Transportation Funds.

Souba said work is expected to begin in two to three weeks, adding that access will be available at all times to WNC and the Convention Center although there will be periods of time when traffic through the parking lot area will be restricted.

“We will let the public know when to expect those periods,” he said.

Souba explained during a public workshop in April a traffic count had indicated more than 700 cars per day use the convention center parking lot and paved right-of-way behind Safeway as a through-way to reach Venturacci Lane.

The Convention Center Drive will also serve as a link for events in which the Convention Center and the newly opened Gym at Venturacci Park are linked.

“I think it’s an important project, and timely because we have our multi-purpose room/gymnasium opening,” Councilman James Richardson said. “I can see an opportunity there for an event that would utilize both the convention center and the gym. I think it’s important we do have that walk-way to improve that area.”