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May 10, 2006
MAJOR PROJECTS County highways targeted for work
By MARK WAITE
Well, the weather is warming up and so is the hot mix asphalt for this year's road projects. Motorists will have to get accustomed to waiting for a pilot car traveling north from Tonopah beginning next month, when a Nevada Department of Transportation reconstruction project on U.S. Highway 95 gets underway. The department awarded a $6.3 million contract to RHB Construction Company of Sparks May 2 to reconstruct 14 1/2 miles of U.S. 95 from three-quarters of a mile south of the Esmeralda County line, just north of Tonopah, to 13.7 miles north of the Esmeralda / Nye county line. Assistant District Highway Engineer Chuck Nixon said the work is expected to begin in early to mid-June and should finish by October. The highway will be reconstructed and widened another six feet to a 32-foot width to conform to Federal Highway Administration Standards. The bid came in under the estimate of $7.5 million, Nixon said. The project includes a left turn lane at the Silver Peak turnoff from U.S. Highway 95 in Esmeralda County. "They'll have to wait for pilot car operations," Nixon said. He added NDOT regulations state motorists shouldn't have to wait more than 20 minutes for pilot cars and be delayed no longer than a half hour. Other projects not yet approved by the state NDOT director in the 2006-07 program include some work on U.S. Highway 6 east of Tonopah, extending pipe and widening shoulders for seven miles near Five Mile Ranch, a project estimated to cost $156,696, then another smaller shoulder improvement project 45 to 49 miles east of Tonopah. Both involve knocking down some cliffs for better visibility, he said. Much of the discussion with Nye County commissioners involved the massive widening project on Blue Diamond Road, Highway 160, in Clark County. Highway 160 will eventually be widened to six lanes from Interstate 15 to Rainbow Boulevard, or eight lanes including the various turnouts. Bids have been opened for the section from Valley View Boulevard to Decatur Boulevard, with the section from Decatur Boulevard to Rainbow Boulevard expected to go to bid next year, Malfabon said. "Our goal is to reduce the amount of fatalities on our highways," Malfabon said. The department also plans to emphasize safe routes to schools, encouraging children to walk or bicycle to school, he said. NDOT also plans to streamline the permitting process for developers who need to work on highways, he said. Closer to Tonopah, the department plans to build shoulder improvements on U.S. Highway 6 just east of Sandia Corporation Road, the road to the Nevada Test Site, and install fencing from 30 miles east of Tonopah to 46 miles east. State Road 318 in far eastern Nye County is scheduled for a 10-mile reconstruction project starting just north of the Lincoln County line, a project estimated to cost $4.8 million. Nixon said NDOT hopes to finish by July 1 a chip seal of State Highway 361, the Gabbs Valley Road, from just north of the Gabbs town limits to three miles north of the junction with Ione Road, a $44,960 project. A chip seal of Highway 376, the Tonopah-Austin Road, from 5.6 miles north of Twin River Road to the Lander County line, a project estimated to cost $138,488, is on the schedule. NDOT also plans to extend pipe and widen shoulders on that road from six miles north of the junction with State Highway 377 to Manhattan, to 11.6 miles north of the Twin River Road, a project expected to cost $105,386. Nixon said the department should finish fencing off the last 17 miles of the Tonopah-Austin Road near the Nye-Lander County line by next year, using Nevada Division of Forestry honor crews. Cattle have been roaming occasionally onto the highway on that stretch of road. In Esmeralda County, a $1.5 million project to reconstruct 20.5 miles of the Silver Peak Road from U.S. Highway 6 to Silver Peak is on the NDOT program for the 2006-07 fiscal year, starting July 1. A double chip seal will be laid on Lida Road, State Route 266, from the California state line to .8 mile east of Lida, a 20.5 mile project estimated to cost $424,092. Nixon said that's a high priority project. State Highway 264, the Fish Lake Valley Road, will undergo a chip seal from the Y junction with State Highway 773 to the junction with U.S. Highway 6, a $22,000 job. A project to install old-fashioned street lights on U.S. 95, Bellevue Avenue to Main Street in Goldfield, with a price tag estimated at $245,090 is on the 2006-07 fiscal year program list, but Nixon said he isn't aware it's been approved yet. Esmeralda County Road Supervisor Mike Anderson wasn't available for comment. While rising fuel costs have made the department budget very tight, state highway officials may ask the State Legislative Interim Finance Committee next January for additional funding for the 2006-07 program, Nixon said. The cost of emulsion grade oil used in paving projects rose from $65 per ton to $75 per ton just in the last month, he said. Rudy Malfabon, NDOT deputy director for southern Nevada, told Nye County commissioners last week the fuel costs contractors are charging is also going sky high. The cost of purchasing right-of-way due to rising property values is also pinching the NDOT budget, he said. Nye County Commissioner Gary Hollis told Malfabon the county doesn't get its fair share of oil royalties, during a county commission meeting in Tonopah May 2. Hollis raised an old issue that was the subject of unsuccessful bill drafts by former Nevada District 36 Assemblyman Roy Neighbors, D-Tonopah. Hollis told Malfabon the county should get five cents out of the 27-cent state gas tax. "We're going to be at the legislature and we're going to be voicing our concerns on this matter," Hollis said. The Nevada State Legislature convenes in February 2007. Malfabon said the governor's task force recommended turning over maintenance of some roads to the counties, which would include Radar Road past the county complex, the road from Gabbs to a nearby mine, and Manhattan Road. The state plans to improve the roads, as a carrot, if the counties will sign an agreement to take over maintenance, Nixon said. "We considered things about abandonment, that's the last ditch thing we'd want to do is abandon the road," Malfabon said. Nixon said those roads targeted have low traffic volume. Sometimes the roads are in the middle of nowhere or may exist specifically to serve a mine, he said. "We're just relinquishing highways that don't make sense to maintain them. But the county doesn't want them either," Nixon said. |
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