Pic: Scott Schrantz
The most expensive highway ever built in Nevada will open before the end of August to a storm of protest.
The new 13.7km Interstate 580 three-lane motorway, which is reported to have cost more than US $0.5 billion to construct, has been dubbed a vanity project by local politicians.
Despite its route, linking Reno with Carson City, the project has attracted a lot of criticism. “I think it’s widely acknowledged as primarily a flex pose in the mirror, designed to celebrate the political might of a couple of Washoe County legislators,” said Las Vegas city councillor Bob Beers, who was also a legislator when the project was approved.
It’s a “bridge to nowhere,” added Clark County commissioner Chris Giunchigliani. And many locals admit that the scheme has been dogged by objections and compromises from the start. The route taken is a result of local residents along the current road, U.S. 395, protesting against expansion as far back as 1983. The project couldn’t be moved to the west because that would run into another development, so the Washoe County Commission picked a line in the hillsides overlooking Pleasant Valley to the east.
Problems arose early when the first contractor walked away from the project, citing concerns about constructing the 300-feet-high Galena Creek Bridge in heavy winds. The contractor was paid $50 million for the work it had completed up to that point.
And then, in 2007, the Nevada transportation board approved another contract with a different company for $393 million, which included completing that bridge and other parts of the project. Local congressman Mark Amodei is one of many saying set-backs liked these pushed the scheme way over budget. Amodei continues to call for “hard data” to justify the size and scope of the project. He wants to see a proper and independent “benefit-cost analysis” of the project.
“In all my time paying attention, I don’t recall seeing one,” said Amodei at the ground-breaking ceremony this week. “Anytime you’re talking about a new piece of infrastructure coming on line, it’s a good thing.”
Interstate 580 is expected to carry an estimated 25,000 vehicles a day over nine bridges (one of which spans 1,700 feet), and it is fitted with automatic sprayers designed to apply a saline solution on the bridges in cold weather to prevent freezing. It even has an 8-foot-high fence to prevent deer from leaping across the highway.
Nevada’s next big highway project is understood to be Project Neon: a major improvement to the freeways and interchanges around the Las Vegas Spaghetti Bowl. This scheme is currently estimated to cost is $1.8 billion.
The new 13.7km Interstate 580 three-lane motorway, which is reported to have cost more than US $0.5 billion to construct, has been dubbed a vanity project by local politicians.
Despite its route, linking Reno with Carson City, the project has attracted a lot of criticism. “I think it’s widely acknowledged as primarily a flex pose in the mirror, designed to celebrate the political might of a couple of Washoe County legislators,” said Las Vegas city councillor Bob Beers, who was also a legislator when the project was approved.
It’s a “bridge to nowhere,” added Clark County commissioner Chris Giunchigliani. And many locals admit that the scheme has been dogged by objections and compromises from the start. The route taken is a result of local residents along the current road, U.S. 395, protesting against expansion as far back as 1983. The project couldn’t be moved to the west because that would run into another development, so the Washoe County Commission picked a line in the hillsides overlooking Pleasant Valley to the east.
Problems arose early when the first contractor walked away from the project, citing concerns about constructing the 300-feet-high Galena Creek Bridge in heavy winds. The contractor was paid $50 million for the work it had completed up to that point.
And then, in 2007, the Nevada transportation board approved another contract with a different company for $393 million, which included completing that bridge and other parts of the project. Local congressman Mark Amodei is one of many saying set-backs liked these pushed the scheme way over budget. Amodei continues to call for “hard data” to justify the size and scope of the project. He wants to see a proper and independent “benefit-cost analysis” of the project.
“In all my time paying attention, I don’t recall seeing one,” said Amodei at the ground-breaking ceremony this week. “Anytime you’re talking about a new piece of infrastructure coming on line, it’s a good thing.”
Interstate 580 is expected to carry an estimated 25,000 vehicles a day over nine bridges (one of which spans 1,700 feet), and it is fitted with automatic sprayers designed to apply a saline solution on the bridges in cold weather to prevent freezing. It even has an 8-foot-high fence to prevent deer from leaping across the highway.
Nevada’s next big highway project is understood to be Project Neon: a major improvement to the freeways and interchanges around the Las Vegas Spaghetti Bowl. This scheme is currently estimated to cost is $1.8 billion.
