February 2018

1. Mira Loma Intersection: To construct the intersection more quickly, Mira Loma Drive will be closed at the golf course for seven weeks beginning on March 24. All traffic will detour to Pembroke Drive. The project team has coordinated traffic control with the school district and began outreach to the local community during the week of February 19. Crews will install message boards in the neighborhood two weeks prior to the start of the closure.
2. Huffaker Bridge: The Huffaker Bridge is the last bridge to be constructed. In order to reach completion, crews need to place concrete on the northbound bridge deck and the approach slabs, remove falsework, approach the slabs poured, and replace the barrier railing. Work is anticipated to begin in early spring and be completed by mid-May.
3. Paving Operations: Several portions of the roadway and multi-use path remain to be paved. Paving  and striping will be the final activities to occur as crews wait for warmer spring and summer temperatures to arrive. Once complete, the roadway will be ready for a grand opening, and then will open to traffic.

The Reno-Sparks population has more than tripled since the Spaghetti Bowl was first constructed in the 1970s. As the existing Reno Spaghetti Bowl nears its design capacity, the RTC is working together with our regional partners at the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to most appropriately reconstruct the interchange and metro interstates to accommodate future travel demands and improve traffic flow and safety.

As part of the process, NDOT is currently working to revise the preliminary alternatives plan for the Spaghetti Bowl based on public comment and design workshops. Traffic-safety analysis and risk-based estimates of these designs are anticipated to be complete by the end of February 2018.

Preliminary planning also involves ensuring the project meets the environmental regulations set forth in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The project is currently going through that process, including air quality analysis, noise analysis and more. 

NDOT continues to conduct extensive public outreach to gather vital community input and bolster community awareness of the project. Recently, NDOT held two sets of public meetings. Nearly 100 individual stakeholder meetings have also been conducted to date, and NDOT maintains a project hotline (775-622-5555) and website. Additional public meetings will be held to review the alternatives and environmental analysis later this spring/summer.

Public feedback will continue to be gathered and incorporated over the next approximately three years. The timeframe is several years less than the national average for this type of major environmental review. By starting on the environmental process early, NDOT will be able to start construction more quickly once all approvals are met and funding identified. The freeway improvements would then be phased through subsequent years to have the least impact on traffic.

Even as major Spaghetti Bowl improvements are developed, NDOT and the RTC are implementing interim transportation improvements in some of the Truckee Meadows’ fastest-growing regions such as the North Valleys.

NDOT is also nearing completion on the Reno-Sparks Freeway Traffic Study, which will help identify improvements to Interstate 80, Interstate 580, and U.S. 395, including the I-80/I-580 Spaghetti Bowl. It will also analyze future traffic projections and identify infrastructure needs through 2040. I will provide you with an update in a future edition of our eNews.