Gardnerville Station work moves forward

When Gardnerville obtained the former Eagle Gas Station 10 years ago, the real motivation was to reduce flooding in the S-curve.

Work on the outflow to a 13,000-cubic-foot detention basin has closed Mission Street for the last month.

Town Board members approved $498,001 to install the piping and pump to move flood waters into Martin Slough in April.

Last week, Gardnerville Town Manager Erik Nilssen said that most of the underground work is done, but that he’s come within $1,600 of the 10 percent change order limit of $49,800.

“I don’t know what we’ll finish up at,” he said. “I’d like the flexibility to go over the 10 percent, so we don’t have to stop work and come back to the board. We’re through most of the underground stuff.”

One of the challenges has been the underground utilities in one of the older parts of Gardnerville.

“Every utility that can be in the way out there is in the way,” Nilssen said. “Utilities we didn’t even know were there are in the way.”

Work has moved forward toward converting the gas station into a space for Main Street Gardnerville, as well as the basin under the parking lot in 2019. That was back when the town anticipated Highway 395 would be paved in 2021.

Under an agreement with the town, the Nevada Department of Transportation will install the inflow to the basin when it is scheduled to repave Highway 395 later this year.

Nilssen said he held off on installing the pump and piping because he didn’t want it sitting idle until the basin was ready to be used.

That backfired last year when inflation sent bids into the stratosphere.

As a result, the town purchased the pump and piping separately and bid out the installation, which came in at the more reasonable figure.

Once the installation is complete under Gardnerville Station, the next step will be to pave its parking lot, something Chairman Mike Henningsen referred to last week.

“We’re all getting tired of being asked when Gardnerville Station is going to be done,” he said.

The state opened bids for paving the highway in late May. Sierra Nevada Construction Inc. was the apparent low bidder at $10.88 million.

Work to repave the highway from First Street to Waterloo Lane could happen later this year if the bid is approved by the Nevada State Transportation Board. The highway that serves as Gardnerville’s Main Street was last paved in 2003.

The work is also supposed to soften the S-Curve itself to lower the danger that trucks will come up on the sidewalk.