The Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County (RTC Washoe) has announced new lane shifts on Sparks Boulevard near Reed High School.
Starting on Monday, April 13, southbound traffic will be reduced to one lane and shifted between Shadow Lane and Baring Boulevard from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Northbound traffic will remain reduced to one lane.
When we asked Elise Robinson, a Spanish Springs resident, about the construction, she said "It has been a nightmare to say the least."
The lane shifts are in place so crews can install large box culverts for drainage.
RTC Washoe said night work is out of the question since the construction zone is adjacent to a neighborhood, and so the project can move along more quickly.
“It's not nice to do a lot of loud construction, you know, starting at 7 p.m. on weeknights,” said Josh MacEachern, Public Information Officer, RTC Washoe.
Another neighbor said traffic hasn't been too bad for him because he avoids Sparks Boulevard like the plague.
“I'm not a very patient driver,” Ted Williams said. “I like to get where I'm going and, you know, waiting in traffic's not, I'm not a big fan of that."
For Williams, this project is one thing. The start of new ones right away is another.
“I can't wait till it's all over,” he said. “But it seems like as soon as we finish one project, we're onto another because the town is growing."
Other people have no choice but to face the delays head-on.
Robinson said her commute between Spanish Springs and south Reno has become a drag.
“If I don't hit the freeway or head home on Veterans [Parkway] or whatever by 2:30 max, it's going to take me an hour to an hour and ten minutes to get home,” she said.
Robinson feels the roads didn't get the same treatment as the new development did.
“I’ve been here since 2014 in the Spanish Springs area, and it was beautiful there,” she said. “That's why I bought out here, and, not to say so now."
Between new development along Pyramid Way and potential housing at Red Hawk Golf Course, traffic is expected to get much worse.
"It just feels like the infrastructure didn't get enough attention to it when they gave developers all the permission to put in all these new housing developments,” Robinson said.
RTC Washoe expects these shifts to last about a week.
On top of these shifts, one lane will be closed on the ramp from Interstate 80 East to Sparks Boulevard for about 60 days.
RTC Washoe said the project as a whole is on time for completion by mid-2027.
