Desert Research Institute has won a $2.8 million federal grant to help prepare for development of a research park at its property on the hillsides north of Reno.
DRI will use the grant from the federal Economic Development Administration to improve roads that will serve the park. The 328-acre Dandini Research Park encircles DRI and Truckee Meadows Community College.
The research park could generate as many as 1,900 commuter trips a day, and existing roads aren't sufficient to meet that demand, said Stephen Wells, president of DRI.
The research park is designed to attract private-sector companies that want to work closely with the faculty, laboratories and research funding at DRI. It's also near the National Weather Service Forecast Office and the University of Nevada, Reno's Great Basin Science Sample & Records Library.
The Economic Development Administration provided a portion of the funding for a master plan for the research park that was completed in 2009.
