Main Street prepares for repaving

Even the utility work in preparation for repaving nearly two miles of Main Street through Gardnerville has disrupted access for businesses.

Efforts are underway to prepare merchants along Douglas County’s second oldest business district for the much bigger project due to start in just a few months.

“Optimistically, we will hopefully not see the paved project take as long as was first anticipated,” Main Street Gardnerville Director Jen Nalder told a group of merchants on Tuesday morning, as construction work could be heard in the S Curve. “We are hoping that with good weather, the paving will start a little sooner and get done as soon as possible with minimum disruption to you guys.”

Main Street Gardnerville has produced and posted a web site to help businesspeople navigate the work at Main Street Repaving Project

“We decided to really focus our efforts at the beginning of this year to make sure our businesses get the resources they need and not be in the dark as far as construction goes,” she said.

Nalder urged the businesses to have patience with the process.

“When you start to have certain frustrations just remember that this is a once in a 20-year project,” she said. “It will be an inconvenience to us but think about the greater good that we will have a really nice highway downtown.”

On Thursday, Douglas County commissioners voted to waive fees for sandwich board signs designed to let residents know the businesses are open.

Nalder told commissioners that businesses will still fill out applications and obey the rules for the signs.

Work next spring will see 15 inches of the pavement across a half-mile of Highway 395 from Waterloo Lane to Toler Avenue pulverized and blended with new cement to create a sturdier and durable roadway base.

“Six inches of new asphalt will then be placed over the new roadway base for a smoother and safer roadway surface,” Nevada Transportation spokeswoman Meg Ragonese said.

Down the road in the S Curve workers will excavate 18 inches of roadway before reconstructing and resurfacing the road.

Almost 3 inches of aging pavement surfaces will be removed and replaced between the S Curve and First Street in Minden.

Electronic flashing pedestrian crossing signs will be installed or upgraded near Mission Street and Kingslane Court, allowing pedestrians to activate the signs to help stop traffic as they cross the street and upgraded lighting will be installed as part of existing lighting fixtures.

“Underground conduit lines will also be enhanced for better connectivity to roadway cameras, road-weather information systems, and more,” Ragonese said. “This also provides opportunity for early installation of future electrical and communications including fiber optic cables, as part of a broader plan to make high-speed internet more accessible throughout Nevada.”

It has been more than 20 years since Main Street through Gardnerville was repaved. The road serves around 20,000 vehicles a day, including heavy trucks and commercial vehicles.

Improvements in future years will include additional sidewalk and accessibility improvements, as well as remaining roadway drainage, signals, and lighting enhancements.