Pricey, scenic northern Nevada freeway opens soon

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Built on the side of mountains, the soon-to-open $550 million Interstate 580 freeway between Reno and Washoe Valley is not only the most expensive single highway project in Nevada history, but also is destined to become one of the most scenic roads in the state.

Along the 8 1/2-mile stretch of freeway, one can spy scenes of downtown Reno to the north, Carson City to the south and the exclusive Galena Creek development to the west, all while riding 300 feet above the valley floor.

The six-lane freeway will save Reno-to-Carson City commuters about six minutes compared with traveling along the U.S. Highway 395 surface road through Pleasant Valley.

About 25,000 vehicles a day will save those precious minutes starting around Aug. 11, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

But the project has drawn criticism in recent years because of its high cost and low projected traffic numbers compared with roadways in more populous Clark County. Dozens of surface streets in Clark County carry more vehicles a day than will I-580, according to Nevada Department of Transportation's reports.

I-580's origins

The Northern Nevada freeway project was approved by the State Transportation Board chaired by Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Las Vegan, in 2003 and 2006. Four of the seven members were Southern Nevadans.

Originally, costs were expected to be under $400 million and completion was scheduled for 2009. But the roots of the project go back as far as 1957, when the freeway first was envisioned, and the 1980s when right of way purchases began.

The decision to put the freeway on a mountainside was made by the Washoe County Commission, although it would have been much cheaper to widen the existing U.S. 395 on the valley floor or build it on the Galena Creek side of the mountains.

Nevada Motor Transport Association Executive Director Paul Enos in 2007 put the freeway costs at $125 million if the Transportation Department just rebuilt the existing road on the valley floor to interstate standards.

During the freeway's construction, former Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, now a Clark County commissioner, called the freeway's spectacular arch bridge over Galena Creek the "bridge to nowhere," a reference to a planned bridge to a town of 50 people in Alaska that was never built.

Ninety percent of the new freeway's costs came from federal funds.

Benefits and drawbacks

By the time the project got to the state Transportation Board for funding, former Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt said "it was a done deal," with the alignment determined, right of way purchased and federal funding secured. As a member of that board, she voted for the project to go forward in 2003.

But Hunt, a Las Vegas restaurant owner, emphasized in a recent interview that the completion means Carson City and Reno for the first time will be linked by an interstate freeway system.

Only four state capitals are not connected to freeways. She predicted the freeway will lead to more economic investment in Carson City and to increased tourism.

Chuck McCubbins said the restaurant-gas station along U.S. 395 will lose some business when the highway becomes a secondary road for Reno-Carson City travelers. His daughter owns the business.

McCubbins also said the decision to build the freeway in a wind-prone area on the side of mountains was a tremendous mistake. "Somebody is going to go off the side," McCubbins said. "When they have a lot of accidents, they will realize they have wasted taxpayers' money.

Beware of winds