Nevada DMV to construct new office in south Reno

The Department of Motor Vehicles is planning to build a new office in south Reno to replace the aging and overloaded Galletti Way center.

DMV Director Terri Albertson said it will take two years to build the 57,200 square foot office. The cost will be a bit more than $42 million.

At present, Galletti Way is the only full DMV office in the Reno-Sparks area, Albertson said. The office was built in the 1970s when the population of the region was less than 200,000. Now, the area’s population is more than 430,000.

“There are about 300 customers lined up around the Galletti building every morning,” Albertson said.

She said the office has 159 employees but just 152 parking spaces for both employees and customers. In 2016, she said there were 1,500 parking citations and 566 vehicles towed because of the lack of parking.

She said staff won’t leave for lunch because they can’t find parking when they return.

As a result, Albertson said too many drivers are now going to the less crowded Carson City DMV, increasing wait times in the capital.

The new office, when completed in 2020, will have 450 parking spaces at the South Meadows Parkway location near the IGT Headquarters and space for more service technicians to handle the customer volume.

Albertson said DMV will maintain its Sparks office that currently serves just Commercial Drivers’ License applicants, expanding it to provide other services. She said DMV is also looking into opening a small center in north Reno, adding kiosks to handle simple renewals and other tasks to provide better service.

She said the new office will be a one-stop-shop for all DMV functions.