One phase left on bypass

Only one phase of the Carson City bypass remains to be completed, the connection with U.S. 395 at Highway 50 on the capital’s southern border.

A spokesman for the Nevada Department of Transportation said work wrapped up this week on phase 2B-2 which included construction of extensive drainage facilities, an overpass bringing Snyder Avenue over the future freeway and grading of the roadway that will take the freeway south from Fairview Drive to the Spooner Junction.

The Project Manager Stephen Lani in an earlier interview described the project as “a lot of water work with a little road on top.”

The next and final phase, however, he said will be “a huge dirt job.” To actually pave the final stretch, the contractor will have to move about three million cubic yards of dirt to accommodate a base and pavement layer about two feet thick.

The final stage is expected to cost about $42 million and NDOT officials hope to put out to bid this winter and begin construction in the first half of 2015.

It will take two construction seasons to finish the pavement and the at-grade intersection where the bypass meets U.S. 395 south and Highway 50 to Spooner Summit. Building an at-grade intersection instead of an interchange greatly is speeding up the final phase of construction by saving about $20 million in costs.

Officials said that intersection would be built in the future when money is available.