Muller Parkway making progress

On Tuesday, Gardnerville Town Board members are scheduled to discuss two parcel maps for the Virginia Ranch Project south of Toler Lane that would create the right of way for the Parkway to Grant Avenue.

“It is expected this land division will give the developer flexibility to sell the new parcels to different homebuilders or development companies or allow for their construction independently of each other,” Town Manager Erik Nilssen wrote in his report. “This map will set the right of way to start work on both Muller Parkway and Tom Bruce Boulevard when the site improvement permits are approved.”

A $4.79 million amendment to the bid for construction of Muller Lane Parkway north of Buckeye Road was awarded to Qualcon Construction on Friday.

The bid was part of the original $11.58 million approved on April 10, but that portion was delayed while the county worked with the Federal Emergency Management Administration on the flood maps.

Envisioned to serve as a means north around the towns of Gardnerville and Minden, the parkway has been in the works for more than 30 years.

Regional transportation commissioners also approved a $52,424 amendment to CA-Group’s $1.48 million contract to provide professional engineering services for designing the project.

Additions to the consultant’s work included FEMA work changes to areas outside of the right of way and extend the project south to Toler Lane.

Under a development agreement with Park Ranch Holdings, the county has to build two lanes of Muller Parkway by December 2025.

The county and Park are also supposed to share costs on constructing Muller Parkway along Ashland Park to Toler Lane, but that has been held up in litigation.

An additional $800,000 was transferred into the parkway’s budget from the US 50 Revitalization Reserves after a proposed bypass around Stateline was reduced after objections from South Lake Tahoe.

According to County Transportation Engineer Jon Erb the revitalization project at Stateline received $300,000 a year from 2016 to 2019.

Another $400,000 was transferred to the fund for a new justice center to be built not far from the parkway in order to widen Buckeye Road to add a turn lane.

Work on widening Buckeye is the first step in construction of the courthouse and could begin this month.