"Neighbors Talking With Neighbors"
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The county cable channel 17 has the county commissioner meetings, a news show, and various public info segments.
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I-580 Freeway Construction Last Saturday my wife and I had the opportunity to take part in a tour of the new freeway construction that is underway to extend the freeway from Reno to the 4-lane in Washoe Valley. Our area, Washoe Valley and the close environs has a tradition of large and audacious construction projects dating back to the times of the Comstock in the 1860’s. Over the hill in Virginia City new mining techniques were invented for the unique conditions that allowed huge underground operations. Adolf Sutro, against all advice against such a feat, built a horizontal tunnel from near Dayton through the mountain to connect with the vast underground workings. Another great feat was the construction of the inverted siphon water pipe that transported water under its own pressure from Marlette Lake to the parched Virginia across two mountain ranges and a valley. Even in Washoe valley, massive quartz processing mills were built in record time to separate silver ores and then torn down and moved just as rapidly as they became obsolete by the building of first the transcontinental railroad and then the Virginia and Truckee. Looking up from the present Highway 395 while whizzing through Pleasant Valley one doesn’t really see too much going on up on the mountainside and it is difficult to judge the scale of the project unless one notices that a tiny speck of movement is in reality a huge earth moving machine with 8 foot tires. This was our impression when we met Michelle Searle, Public Information Specialist with the project. We, and three other Washoe Valley residents climbed into Michelle’s Ford Expedition and headed out to the project. Taking the present highway to the south end of the project Michelle filled us in on the history of the project and its delays and snags.
Fisher has decided on a plan it hopes will bring the job in within budget and before schedule by coming up with several new strategies. One is to process all aggregate materials on-site. Excavations of the roadbed will provide the raw materials separated into stone, gravel and sand to be used where needed for fill. A concrete plant has been built on site to use the gravel and sand to make the concrete necessary for the project. Later, still more of the material will be used to provide more fill and roadbed foundation. Another new strategy will be to use the
“falsework” method of bridge construction. In this technique the Galena Creek
Canyon Upon arriving at the west end of Washoe City, we turned north on Parker Ranch road to inspect the construction completed to-date. It was explained that a frontage road was built to allow the residents of Saint James Village to make their way to the interchange at Bowers Mansion Road as there will be no other onramps from there to Mt. Rose Highway. On this frontage road are examples of
treatments that will be used to restore road cuts along the freeway. Upon our
inspection the hillsides looked very natural. An 8-foot deer fence is being
built along the entire length of the right-of-way to prevent wildlife from
crossing the freeway. It is hoped that the seven bridges will give enough paths
for wildlife to cross safely (I have heard that the Nevada Dept of Wildlife has
determined that
We continued winding our way up the construction roads, passing machinery, piles of materials and construction workers working on a Saturday. On the way, we enjoyed views of Washoe Valley and Pleasant Valley that we had never seen before and will be the enjoyment of future travelers. Presently, we began a very steep descent on an access road to the bottom of Galena Creek Canyon and crossed the creek under the path of the future bridge. Here we could see the concrete structure of the massive culvert being built. On our left and right stood the massive footings for the bridge. Continuing up the other side we passed by the concrete uprights that can be seen from the floor of Pleasant Valley. Up here they tower over us and the scale of this project begins to become apparent.
We drove past two more bridges in various
stages of construction and witnessed an example of falsework first hand. When we
nearly reached the spot where we turned around on our previous trek we turned
around again and drove past several huge “steam shovels” (what are they called
now that they run on diesel?) working to move massive piles of rock. Turning
right, we made our way around huge piles of sand and gravel to the concrete
plant. Moving among these mountains of concrete ingredients we felt as ants We concluded the tour at the South Valleys
Library where we began and were overwhelmed by the sights and the amount of
information Michelle had communicated over the course of the tour. Fortunately,
the Michelle and her Tours will be given free of charge as long as the weather holds and will begin again next spring. Call Michelle at 775-329-7300 ext 36934 for more information and to schedule a tour. This really is an historic undertaking for our area and something you don’t get to see firsthand every day.
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The
original contractor cited concerns about the safety of building such a bridge as
the one over Galena Creek Canyon considering the very high winds that are known
to blow through that slot. It was also known that the company was a victim of
its own mistakes in bidding the project and of unforseen, uncooperative raw
material prices. NDOT decided that rather than spend what could be years in
court they would cut their losses and part ways with the company. In a record 9
months the remainder of the job was repackaged, bidded out and awarded to the
current company, Fisher Industries. 
under the bridge will be filled in with fill and on top of that a form will be
built upon which the bridge will be built. This way, none of the massive
structure will be precariously suspended over the canyon at the mercy of the
winds until “tied in”. When the bridge is complete, the fill will be removed and
the canyon restored.
previous
development has eliminated the traditional deer herd migration through this area
anyway). We also saw one of several detention ponds that are being built to
capture runoff from the new roadway that will allow solids and contaminants to
“settle out” before the water continues on.
At the
top of the next hill we turn around and retrace our steps to the north end of
the project. We cross the overpass over Mt.
Rose Highway and head into the hills surrounding the geothermal powerplants that
occupy the area. Michelle noted that in this area ground temperatures can reach
185 degrees and special construction techniques have to be used to accommodate
the unusual conditions. We could see the massive excavations being done to level
the many hills in the path and make the roadbed relatively level. Up here, the
terrain seems alot less steep than it does from down in the valley. I always
wondered how the freeway was going to perch on the hillside but up
here
it seems almost reasonable.
present at the making of a cake.
boss, CH2MHill have provided an excellent website with tons of information on
the project. Check out
