Traffic delays expected near Spooner Summit on Tuesday

NV Energy will resume work on its Carson City to Glenbrook Transmission Line Rebuild Project on Tuesday, June 20, in the Glenbrook and Spooner Summit area. 

During construction, the public may experience traffic delays primarily within the Spooner Summit area of U.S. Highway 50 and just south of the Highway 28 interchange. The Tahoe Rim Trail, Spooner Summit Trailhead, and Spooner Summit South Day Use Area will remain open for public use. 

This project includes timber removal and construction-related activities along 9.23 miles of the existing power line corridor on approximately 56 acres of private, state and National Forest lands located between Carson City and Glenbrook. At this time, NV Energy will only be working on the portion of the project from Glenbrook to Spooner Summit, which includes parts of the USDA Forest Service’s Lake Tahoe Management Basin Unit and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The other section of the project was completed in 2022.

This rebuild project will improve service reliability, make the line more resilient and help mitigate wildfire risk in the area. Much of the work will be done by helicopter, minimizing impacts to the environment. In conventional construction, crews build access roads and drive trucks to the work site, but aerial construction transports workers, equipment, and materials by flying them into place with the aid of a long, synthetic rope suspended beneath the helicopter. 

The HTNF and LTBMU signed the decision memo in August 2021 authorizing the powerline rebuild. Project documents may be viewed at https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=58015.