A Mt. Rose Highway repaving and enhancement project is scheduled to hit a milestone early with paving on the bottom section of the highway expected to be complete July 8, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation.
Work scheduled for early completion involves paving from the base of the highway at South Virginia Street to Timberline Drive in the Montreux area. It was originally scheduled to be completed in late July.
Minor Roadside work — such as permanent striping, concrete island work and installation of safety rumble strips — should continue over the next few weeks.
In 15 workdays, the project milled and removed 300,000 square yards of old asphalt and laid down 39,000 tons of new asphalt, according to NDOT.
“We will continue to upgrade the drainage facilities on the two-lane section of highway above the tree line, with the removal and repaving of the existing roadway planned for mid-August,” NDOT Resident Engineer Shane Cocking said in statement. “This is a narrow, mountainous section of road, and we ask the understanding of motorists as we complete that paving as quickly and safely as possible.”
Single lane closures and delays of up to 30 minutes on the two-lane portion of the highway above the tree line can be expected moving forward. Work will take place Sunday evenings through Friday afternoons day and night.
The plan is to repave and improve Mt. Rose Highway from its base in south Reno to the Mt. Rose summit. Included in the $10 million project is the installation of rumble strips to enhance driver safety in residential areas, the addition of nearly 18,000 linear feet of new guardrail and work to reduce erosion-caused rock fall on one roadside slope near the summit.
The project is scheduled to be completed in summer 2015.