Tag: ccfreeway

Fairview Street is still a mess due to the massive repaving project they're doing. Fairview westbound is closed between Saliman and Roop, and eastbound is open only one lane and you have to dodge cones and construction vehicles the whole way. But! They're making progress, and the first layer of asphalt is down.

It sure does seem like this project would have gone a lot faster if they had just closed the road, and repaved the whole thing in one go. By closing down the whole stretch, they wouldn't have to hassle with cones, or flagmen, or paving half the street one month then paving the other half later. They could just blast through it and get it done. Sure, that would have blocked access to all the businesses and residences along that whole stretch of road, but it's all for the good of the freeway, right?

Fairview east of Saliman is also a high holy mess, because not only are they repaving there too but you also run into the freeway construction zone and the new overpass they're putting up. But that part of Fairview is open to two-way traffic at least.

Until now, construction of the new part of the freeway between Hwy 50 and Fairview has only led to a few delays here and there along Hwy 50, Fifth Streets, and Fairview. But things are about to get seriously messy, as work begins on repaving and widening the street between Roop and Saliman. Basically the advice is to avoid that road completely, unless you have to drive it. And if you have to, realize that the road will be one-way for the whole month of June. You'll only be able to drive eastbound, from Roop to Saliman, and not the other way. You'll have to detour onto Colorado to go westbound.

I drove out Fifth Street the other day to see the progress on the Carson City Freeway. At Fifth Street all they're doing is building a bridge over the freeway; there won't be any on or off ramps there. So the work to do be done is considerably less than what needs to be done at Fairview, but building a big bridge like this is still a big undertaking, as is the giant scar they're cutting through the Lompa Ranch for the freeway itself. Above you can see the crane they have onsite for the construction.

The western approach the the bridge.

This is the dead center of the bridge. You can see the center columns of the span just barely sticking above the dirt on the left. Like many other bridge projects in the area, the crew here is using the technique of piling dirt up to the level of the bridge during construction rather than building a support framework out of wood or steel. After the bridge deck has been built, they'll remove the dirt and start working on the roadway.

This view looks south across the Lompa Ranch at Prison Hill. You can see the scar or the freeway work heading off towards Fairview.

Here is the retention basin. Because most of the snowmelt from the Sierra passes through the Lompa Ranch on its way to the river, this pond is necessary to prevent the freeway from being inundated during a flood. Just one way of trying to protect ourselves from nature. Plus I like the way Job's peak is reflected in the calm waters of the pond.

This is the freeway's roadbed stretching off to the south. The heavy equipment looks tiny compared to the scale of this project.

This is a look the other direction, north towards Hwy 50.

Work is coming along nicely on the bridges for Phase 2A of the Carson City Freeway. I drove by the Fairview Drive overpass today, to find that they are well into building the structure of the bridge itself.

Like so many other bridge projects these days, they decided that instead of constructing an intricate framework to hold the bridge aloft while they're building it, they would just raise the level of the dirt so they can build the bridge right on the ground. After the concrete is cured they'll dig all this dirt out, and the full bridge will be revealed. They've already built the center columns; they are buried underneath the dirt in this photo.

It's a long haul until we'll be able to drive on this section of the freeway, but the progress that we're seeing now is so much better than what we put up with for decades, where the freeway was just some mythical object that was far off in the distant future. In a couple of years we'll be able to get on the freeway here at Fairview and ride it all the way out of town to the north. Riding it out of town to the south is a different matter, though. Because Phase 2B (which by now really should be called Phase 3) not only hasn't been completely designed yet, it hasn't even been fully budgeted. And if the people in Las Vegas had their way, we wouldn't get any money at all, leaving us with a 2/3 done freeway that won't be much of a help to anybody.

Construction started on Phase 2A of the Carson City Freeway two months ago, and already they've made good progress. They're well into working on the future interchange at Fairview Drive, which will become the southern terminus of the freeway when this phase is all finished. Phase 2B will then continue south from here, but it could be years before they start on that.

Most of Phase 2 will be below ground level, so the freeway will be riding in a trench with all the cross streets passing over it. This is in contrast to Phase 1, which is already open in the north part of town, where the freeway passes over the cross streets. So that means that the bulk of construction at Fairview doesn't involve building a freeway bridge over the street, it involves building a street bridge over the freeway. Here are some shots of the progress they've made on that front.

Approaching the Fairview interchange from the east. You can see the pillars that will support the bridge off in the distance. Fairview Dr. has been routed around the consturction area.

A look to the north. The freeway will be passing through this land on its way to Hwy 50. The northbound onramp will be right about where I'm standing.

A closer look at the pillars. This bridge is where Fairview will pass over the freeway.

Looking at the interchange from the west.

Fairview will remain rerouted until the bridge is finished. Then they'll be able to start work on the freeway's roadbed itself. And, of course, at some point the city will have to widen Fairview to four lanes between Carson Street and the freeway, because once Phase 2A is finished, all traffic will be dumped off the freeway at this spot, and have to make their way down Fairview to rejoin Carson Street. It will stay that way until Phase 2B is completed.

So, basically what I'm saying is avoid Fairview Drive for the next six years or so.

So it looks like work is finally starting on the next section of the Carson City Freeway. It has been 20 months since the first section opened in February of 2006. That's 20 months where they could have been working on the freeway, but they weren't. 20 months of wasted time. The Empire State Building was built in 15 months.

So this next section of the freeway will just travel across the Lompa Ranch from Hwy 50 to Fairview Drive, with an underpass at Fifth Street but no interchange. A straight shot across flat ground, less than two miles all together. For this amount of work it's going to take them nearly two years to build. 350 working days, they estimate. Then the next section of the freeway isn't going to even get started until this section is finished. This stop and start method is such a ludicrous way of building the freeway, but they seem to be proud of it.

Plus, how fantastic is it that they're starting work in October, so they'll get about three weeks on the job before it snows and they have to stop for the winter? Sometimes I think they want us to hate them.

Can you say, "A little late?" Freeway work resumes next month.

The 18-month gap from the opening of Phase One to the start of Phase Two is...just par for the course, I guess.