New street lights nearly done

A bit of charm is being installed on streets in Gardnerville as stark telephone poles make way for historic-looking street lights.

Once the new utilities, including Charter Communications and Verizon Wireless, have completed their conversions, Sierra Pacific will remove the old telephone poles.

The $1.4 million project, a joint effort between the town and the Nevada Department of Transportation, should be completed in about a month. Gardnerville provided about $900,000 for the project and the balance came from the Department of Transportation, Gardnerville Town Manager Jim Park said Tuesday at a meeting of the Gardnerville Town Board.

"It's been a good project and we're coming down the home stretch," he said. "The utility companies are working daily to get the circuits moved over and as soon as everyone is converted, we will transfer all the services on Main Street."

Following 18 months of design work with the Department of Transportation, Charter Communications and Verizon Network, the Gardnerville Town Board awarded the bid in April. Charter still needs to do some work but the companies have been working hard to transfer their services to the new underground lines, Park said.

There were a few glitches during construction, everything from nonconforming asphalt to sidewalk and easement issues, but no one was shut down for any more than a couple of hours.

The unanticipated costs shouldn't total more than $60,000 to $75,000 and the project is coming in slightly under budget, Park said.

"The utilities will take down the power poles in one or two nights and the sidewalks left with holes where the poles were will be replaced," Park said. "Then, the project will be done."

A similar conversion is being considered for Eddy and Mission streets, Park said.

The project is part of Gardnerville's Plan for Prosperity, a framework of publicly sanctioned goals and policies incorporating a vision for the future, which includes pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use neighborhoods and landscaped commercial areas.

The plan is incorporated into Douglas County's master plan, zoning and related capital improvements programs.

For more information visit Gardnerville's Web site, www.gardnerville-nv.gov.

Susie Vasquez can be reached at svasquez@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 211.