Sparks commuters may have noticed the heavy summer road construction on the two-and-a-half mile stretch on Glendale Avenue between east McCarran Boulevard in Sparks and Kietzke Lane in Reno, but when is it supposed to end?
Roadbed surfaces and old pavement 18 inches deep are in the process of being removed to be replaced with a sturdier roadway base and finished with 6” of new asphalt, along with a new concrete surface added to the heavily-traveled Rock Boulevard and Galetti Way intersections. Sidewalk segments are also being added along with newer sidewalk ramps and more accessible pedestrian crossing buttons. The Glendale Project is also including drainage improvements to preserve the quality of storm water crossing major roadways.
Facilitated by the Nevada Department of Transportation, the $14 million improvement project has contracted Granite Construction to complete the work. The last time Glendale Avenue was fully repaved was in 1995.
The project began in April as demolition to the McCarran to Rock Boulevard northbound lanes was slated through May followed by demolition of Rock Boulevard to Kietzke taking place June-August. Paving McCarran to Kietzke is set to commence in mid-August as demolition from Kietzke to Rock will take place through September. Demolition from Rock to McCarran will take place through October followed by paving McCarran to Kietzke. The full Glendale Project is expected to be completed by November 2017.
With all the dust and detours, business owners on that stretch thought they would have been feeling the impact more than they have.
Eric Smith, owner of The Flag Store on 155 Glendale Avenue, says that business has been impacted a little bit but not a lot.
“Being on the closer side of McCarran has been beneficial to us, people can get right off the freeway and it’s easy to get here,” Smith says. “Granite (Construction) has been moving pretty darn quickly on this project; the only backup I’ve seen is around 8 a.m. or 5 p.m. when people are going to or leaving work. It’s probably rougher for the businesses closer to Rock Boulevard, but we all knew this was coming. The RTC held public meetings all last year and we knew what the plan was,” he adds.
One of the employees at Sunshine Service Brake & Alignment says that road construction has not impacted business at its 850 South Rock Boulevard location since its customers usually book appointments in advance, but that people have complained about the detours they have to take to get there.
With up to 14,500 vehicles traveling the road on a daily basis, transportation agencies deemed it time to completely refresh the popular Sparks roadway. For more information and updates about the Glendale Project, visit https://glendaleproject.com/.
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