Art or artifice

Granite Construction's contract to rehabilitate the Cave Rock tunnels near Lake Tahoe includes plenty of heavy construction mostly milling and replacing asphalt and concrete.

But it's an artistic venture that Granite executives find most challenging on the project.

The concrete barrier rails that keep Highway 50 traffic away from the mountainside at the entrance to the tunnels will be replaced as part of the $2.3 million contract with the Nevada Department of Transportation.

The challenge, says Project Manager Mike Kummer, is an effort to blend the barrier rails into the mountainside.

Capitol City Concrete of Carson City will supply color concrete, dyed at its plant to match the mountain rock.

Once the concrete is poured, construction crews will hand-paint lines intended to look like the grout that would be found in a rock wall.

"It's very hard to do it,"Kummer said last week."It's the first time that NDOT has ever tried something like this."

The job is challenging, too, because of a tight schedule.Work began last week and is scheduled for completion by the end of June.

In that time, Granite and its subcontractors will replace paving through the tunnels and widen the roadway for the addition of the barrier rail.

Kummer said crews are working a sevenday schedule, 10 to 14 hours a day, to meet the timeline.About 20 to 30 employees of Granite and its subcontractors are on the site daily.

Granite's Donavin Greenwell is project superintendent and Marc Thoreson is project engineer.