Funding for the project will come from the RTC-5 fuel tax established by in this year’s legislative session by SB 201. Construction will deal primarily with adding two additional lanes heading northbound/eastbound from North Los Altos toward Wingfield Parkway, along with curb, gutter and drainage improvements, raising a median, landscaping and a 10-foot-wide pedestrian path from the west side to existing walkways, RTC officials and consultants from PBS&J said Wednesday at an open house at Van Gorder Elementary School.
RTC will then reconstruct the two existing lanes with similar improvements to help serve traffic heading toward the Interstate 80.
Traffic signal improvements, including a new signal to be installed at the Wingfield Hills Drive/Vista Boulevard intersection and a fiber optic traffic signal interconnect system, will also be made.
The entire project is estimated at $15 million.
Long-term maintenance is the goal of the project, said RTC senior engineer Howard Riedl, adding that RTC workers will also be pouring concrete at the Wingfield Hills/Vista intersection.
“We have a little saying: ‘Get in, get out and stay out,’ ” said Riedl.
That will be especially true once the city precedes the roadwork with its sewer interceptor project directly under the roadway.
Wayne Seidel, public works director for the city of Sparks, said the bids on the sewer construction opened Wednesday with advertising that started on Thursday. Three bids came in under $7 million and are under review. The award of the contract will go out on July 27, Seidel said.
“It’s a new interceptor with 24-inch to 54-inch pipe … for the master plan of Spanish Springs,” he said. “We’ve been working on this with the (Sparks City Council) and RTC board and staff for more than four years. The discussions have always begun with funding and RTC-5 came through and RTC jumped right on it. All the pieces came together.”
The city is in litigation about the sewer construction with Laborers’ Union Local 169 after city officials had to reject 10 construction bids on the original sewer project once additional information about the RTC Vista work appeared on the grid. Union business manager Richard Daly argued that the City Council should have reopened bidding on the project instead of the decision being made by the city’s purchasing manager.
Once the sewer is finished at the end of September, RTC will get to work on the Vista roadway, a project that should take about eight months to complete, Seidel said.
Officials were on hand Wednesday to answer questions from the public about the improvements that will be made heading from North Los Altos toward Wingfield Parkway.
Sparks City Councilman Mike Carrigan, in whose ward the Vista project falls, has been working on getting the boulevard on the radar since 2000 and said he’s only heard one complaint from residents.
“The only complaint I’ve heard is the people who have the soundwall want it and the people in the condominiums closer to Wingfield who don’t have it want it,” Carrigan said. “I’m really going to try to get that soundwall dumped. Part of the reason is it’s a half-mile long and it’s going to be the biggest graffiti canvas, I think, in Reno-Sparks.”
Otherwise, Carrigan said his constituents have frequently told him the project was not fast enough in coming.
“People don’t understand the RTC process because it is a regional road system and you have to wait your turn,” he said. “The City Council could say, ‘Widen the road,’ but it is a regional road, not a city road.”
Councilman Ron Smith, who serves as the vice chair of the RTC, had an aversion to making the drive out to Van Gorder on Vista.
“My first reaction in coming out here while I was driving out for this meeting was, ‘Oh, no, I’ve got to fight this traffic, I better leave early,’ ” he said. “But this has been a long time coming. It’ll alleviate all that traffic.”
Even though Vista is Carrigan’s territory, Smith also receives his fair share of grievances.
“They see me at my store,” said Smith, store director of the Scolari’s Food and Drug Co. on Disc Drive. “They come in and see me and ask me, ‘When are you going to do that? When are you going to do this?’ … I don’t think people understand this is going to be the biggest population center of the county. It’s going to have 120,000 people living out here. It’s not the rural lifestyle they want.”
City employees weren’t the only ones to express their excitement about the Vista project.
Linda Corbridge, who has lived near Wingfield Parkway South for six years, is relieved that the work has come to the forefront for the city of Sparks.
“I think it is well overdue,” Corbridge said. “It’s so needed and I’m glad they moved up the construction because there’s a lot of traffic on that street and we definitely need the four lanes. And there are a lot of people biking on that street and I’m so glad they’re putting in a bike lane because it’s very dangerous right now for bikers.”
The construction of Golden Eagle Regional Park also has created additional traffic near Wingfield Springs, so the improvements have become necessary to accommodate the influx, she said.
“My daughter lives in Riata (in south Reno) and we wanted to make sure she had a left (turn) out of there because everything is (a right turn),” she said. “Here, it looks like they’ve got it well-planned and landscaped down the middle.”
Corbridge’s only disappointment with the presentation of the plans was there were no plans for additional street lighting because it’s so dark out there, she said.
“Other than that, I’m very happy,” she said.
After construction begins, residents can receive updates on the progress every Friday on the RTC’s Web site by logging on to www.rtcwashoe.com, clicking on “Streets and Highways,” then “Road Project in the Truckee Meadows” and finally “Street Project Status Report.”
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