A traffic signal at Airport Road and Highway 395 north of Minden is another step closer to reality after the Nevada Department of Transportation Board approved a $1.8 million contract on Monday that also includes work at Stephanie Way and Johnson Lane.
Work will include constructing an acceleration lane at Johnson Lane and extending the existing acceleration lane at Stephanie Way.
Residents have been asking for a light at the intersection of Airport Road and Stephanie Way for more than five years.
There are several collisions a year at Airport and Highway 395 where people pull out from the stop sign into the path of oncoming vehicles.
County workers at facilities near Minden-Tahoe Airport are required to take Heybourne to Johnson Lane to use the traffic signal there. Douglas County School District buses use the same route, increasing their mileage and fuel consumption.
Airport Road serves the Minden-Tahoe Airport, as well as other businesses and industrial plants, such as the Starbucks Roasting Plant.
Peak traffic through the area is in the range of 1,000 vehicles an hour in each direction during the early morning and afternoon rush periods.
State transportation officials say work will begin in the spring of 2018 and is scheduled for 80 working days.
