NDOT starts work on I-80 in west Reno

Motorists traveling through northwest Reno have largely avoided the road construction headaches that snarl traffic heading into North Valleys and along Pyramid Highway, but their time has finally come.

The Nevada Department of Transportation and general contractor Road & Highway Builders have begun work on a multi-year project along Interstate 80 in west Reno between Keystone Avenue and west McCarran Boulevard. The $55 million project to widen, resurface and improve more than a mile of the interstate began in late September and is expected to continue through mid 2026, said Meg Ragonese, NDOT public information officer.

“As the Reno-Sparks community continues to grow, NDOT continues to improve and revitalize our interstate surfaces and corridors,” Ragonese said. “We appreciate everyone’s understanding of this multi-year project. At the end there will be not only a resurfaced and improved I-80, but also an additional auxiliary lane headed east from McCarran Boulevard.”

Funding for the project is a mix of state and federal highways funds. In addition to resurfacing the entire roadbed in the project footprint, RHB will create a dedicated auxiliary lane for traffic entering eastbound I-80 from McCarran Boulevard. Currently, the merge lane peters out after several hundred yards, which creates a traffic bottleneck on the interstate that can be especially onerous to navigate for big rigs that can’t move into the adjacent lane to accommodate merging vehicles. The new auxiliary lane is also expected to alleviate traffic backups along McCarran Boulevard for motorists trying to access the eastbound I-80 onramp.

Aaron Lobato, roadway design project coordinator for NDOT, said the new lane is an important infrastructure improvement to keep traffic flowing along that section of the interstate.

“Traffic metering (on the onramp) helped guide traffic through there more efficiently, but overall there’s a huge need for this,” Lobato said. “It will be a big improvement for that area.”

In order to gain that additional lane, Road & Highway Builders will convert the area to the left of the eastbound fast lane that’s currently configured as asphalt covered drainage into roadbed – the new lane will be added to the inside of the freeway.

Will Hellickson, area manager with Road and Highway Builders, said the current concrete barrier rail separating eastbound and westbound traffic will be demolished, and RHB will construct 6,800 linear feet of retaining wall that will also function as a barrier rail between the opposing lanes of traffic. Once completed, the road configuration will look more like Interstate 580 through town, where traffic moving in opposite directions is separated by concrete barrier rail — there won’t be any more interior shoulder.

In addition to the retaining wall/barrier rail, the westbound section of the bridge over Stoker Avenue also will be widened.

Since work in the median is expected to last throughout 2025 beginning with the retaining wall and continuing with the bridgework, traffic patterns will remain in that outside configuration for nearly a year until RHB completes that portion of the job, Hellickson said.

“That is a major portion of the work,” he said. “The retaining wall also has to tie into the eastbound Stoker Avenue bridge widening, which is another major component of the work.”

Much of the material needed to create a level grade for the roadbed will come from excavation and construction of the retaining wall, Hellickson noted.

“There actually will be an excess of dirt from the median that’s being taken out,” he said.

Working inside the median is one of the biggest challenges of the whole project, Hellickson said. Construction workers can only enter the worksite from the eastern or western portions of the job, and that limited access requires intense coordination to move materials and equipment in and out of the work zone without impacting motorists on the interstate.

“The specifications are very clear that we are not allowed to impact traffic during peak commuting and daylight hours, so most of the work that has to impact traffic will be done during nighttime closures,” Hellickson said. “Work that can be done inside the barrier rail that doesn't impact traffic can occur during daylight hours.”

Here’s what motorists can expect regarding lane closures throughout the duration of the project:

• Interstate lanes will be reduced to one lane between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. on weekdays.

• Intermittent overnight ramp closures of the west McCarran Boulevard and Keystone Avenue ramps to I-80 between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. from Sunday evening through Friday mornings.

• Overnight lane reductions on McCarran Boulevard and Keystone Avenue near I-80 between 8 p.m.- 6 a.m. nightly.

• Stoker Avenue will be closed for an extended period underneath I-80 between West Fourth Street and Stardust Street except for business and pedestrian access.

Northern Nevada’s often wonky weather also could pose additional challenges to the construction schedule. It remains to be seen if Mother Nature will level a few solid left hooks of snowfall on the region as it has in recent years, or if the upcoming winter will merely amount to a series of soft jabs.

“It’s always a concern because we just don’t know what kind of winter we will have,” Hellickson said. “We could have record snowfall or a totally mild and dry winter. The work we are scheduled to start with — the retaining wall — is kind of protected from the winter. We do have to consider cold temperatures and snowfall for concrete pours, but we will take it week by week and look at forecasts to see what we can accomplish that week.”

Some of the work in the latter stages of the project includes aesthetic changes found on newer highway projects throughout the region, such as adding decorative powder-coated steel image panels of Northern Nevada reptiles and animals on the McCarran and Keystone bridges, as well as building about 8,000 linear feet of Truckee River-themed sound walls to mitigate traffic noise for neighborhoods adjacent to the heavily traveled interstate corridor.

Some existing roadside trees will be removed and replaced with more than 400 deciduous and evergreen trees that are well adapted to the Northern Nevada climate, Ragonese added. Construction of the sound walls and other aesthetic improvements will likely begin in 2026, Hellickson said.

Pat Vradenburg, resident engineer with NDOT, said the aesthetic improvements are taken from local inspiration.

“The goal of the design and aesthetics is to continue the visual aesthetic that we have coming in from the Spaghetti Bowl,” Vradenburg said. “We have similar themes as you come out of the Spaghetti Bowl. There will be beautiful evergreens, fish on sound walls, along with native species of animals in metal appliques to really improve the overall visual and driving experience for the public coming through that corridor.”