On Wednesday, RTC held a public information meeting for the community to learn more about the Pembroke Drive Capacity and Safety Project.
Construction is set to begin this summer. They say it's expected to be completed in the summer of 2027.
The meeting is a chance for the community to learn more and ask questions.
We spoke to a resident, Jerry Zweifel, before the meeting to see why he decided to attend.
He told us, "My concern is how they expect people to get on to Pembroke. Right now, there's no way of getting on it unless you come across a polite person."
People wanted to know what the detours are going to look like during construction and how they're going to restructure the road during construction.
But residents agree the project is needed.
Zweifel says, "The project is definitely needed with all the traffic. The project is definitely overdue. It needs to be widened. They need a bike path. They need more access."
The goal for this project is to widen and reconstruct Pembroke Drive between South McCarran Boulevard and Veterans Parkway, connect existing shared-use paths along both corridors, improve intersections, relocate overhead and underground utilities, and deliver drainage and floodplain mitigation improvements.
They'll also be diving into a companion project during this presentation regarding Mira Loma Drive and South McCarran Boulevard, which will add turn capacity, improve pedestrian and bicycle access, and address access management concerns near Mira Loma Park.
Josh MacEachern, the public information officer for RTC, says, "There's a lot of construction going on right now in Washoe County, and we feel it just like everybody else does. We drive the same roads, we shop in the same stores, and we live in the same neighborhoods, but we have a unique opportunity right now to get a lot of things done when it comes to aging infrastructure because there's funding available, so we're trying to get as much construction done as we possibly can. What that means to you, the average traveler, is one: plan ahead. If you can use a different route, please do."
He also mentions being cautious of workers on the roadways because they're working hard for the community to have better roadways.
He tells us they try to get all the phases of construction done in the most effective and least disruptive way possible.
MacEachern says, "When it comes to phasing, we do work a lot with our local agencies like NDOT, the City of Reno, the City of Sparks, and Washoe County. We try to sequence projects in a way that causes the least possible disruption. When possible, we try to do night work so you're not having peak-hour work, but that's not always the case; that's not always something we can do."
He adds, "We try to balance that investment in the community long term with the impact and see how quickly we can get things done so we can get in, get out, do it once, and do it right."
If you have questions or want to know more about the project, you can click the link here.
