Snyder overpass to open Friday

Months of winding their way through detours at the south end of Carson City end Friday afternoon with the opening of the Snyder Avenue overpass.

The drainage and roadbed construction effectively cut the neighborhood in half, causing a lot of traffic problems for residents, particularly those living in the tribal colony at Stewart along Carson’s southern border.

Nevada Department of Transportation spokesman Meg Ragonese said opening the overpass will make all those detours and closures unnecessary. Now, she said, people will simply drive over the bypass freeway route using the overpass.

She said the rest of the $9.5 million phase including roadbed preparation and extensive utility and drainage work, will wrap up next month.

The project turned several streets through the neighborhood into cul-de-sac’s ending on both sides of the freeway route.

That leaves just the final stretch of freeway that will complete the bypass by reconnecting with U.S. 395 south at Spooner Junction. Project Manager Stephen Lani said in May NDOT hopes to put that $42 million project out to bid this coming winter so the contractor can work through the following two summers and finish in 2016.

The final phase will require removal of an estimated three million yards of dirt to accommodate a base and pavement layer about two feet thick.

It will end in an intersection instead of an interchange, a modification that saves about $20 million.