South Carson Street lane closures planned starting Sunday

The Nevada Department of Transportation is planning nighttime lane closures beginning Sunday on south Carson Street just north of U.S. 50.

There also will be reduced speed limits in place between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. for approximately one week.

The work is part of the latest phase of the Carson Bypass project. The contractor, Road and Highway Builders of Sparks, is building a drainage culvert under Carson Street that’s going to initially be used to move some 600,000 cubic yards of dirt from the bypass construction site to a gravel storage pit up the hill along the highway to Spooner Summit.

The company plans to use an innovative conveyor system to move the earth rather than transporting it across south Carson Street by truck, which would cause months of traffic delays.

After construction is finished, the culvert becomes part of the bypass’s extensive storm water drainage system.

The project, known as Phase 2B-3, will extend the bypass freeway from Fairview Drive south to the intersection of Carson Street and Highway 50 to Spooner Summit.

The $42 million project will take until 2017 to complete. Work began in June.