Winter storms forced Interstate 80 to close for four days in a row, until Tuesday afternoon when Eastbound travel lanes were able to start moving again.

Even after the roads reopen, and it is safe to travel again, the aftermath of the closure is expected to burden the supply chain.

In a statement the Nevada Trucking Association wrote, "

“I-80 is the artery of commerce for Northern Nevada and dealing with supply chain challenges has become a daily occurrence. While we appreciate the work that CalTrans is doing to reopen the road, we have noticed that the pass has been been shut down more frequently over the last few years than in the past."

Severe weather costs the trucking industry both money and time. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates trucking companies lose about $3.5 Billion every year because of weather and road conditions. Snow and ice make up for more than 50 percent of all weather related traffic delays.

Retailers and grocery stores almost always feel the affects of I-80's winter road closure too. Empty shelves could become a more common sight.

A sign posted inside the Whole Foods in south Reno read, "We are currently out of supplies due to weather conditions."

The owner of Sierra Foods Market, Dave Ashe said said they're running low on produce.

"The stuff that runs out first of course are the tomatoes, the bananas, the limes, the lettuce," he said. "We like to keep everything as fresh as possible. But we want to make sure we have just enough to get from one truck to the next truck. We get four trucks a week. So it's kind of easy to just order one day-- for the next day and it lets us keep everything really fresh."

Sierra Foods Market opened in 2021 replacing Food Source at the Reno Town Mall. Since then Asher said, they've been experiencing the affects of supply chains issues even before the storms. However, Asher says the always try to be prepared to meet their customers needs. The store is still able to keep most of its shelves full.

"Being that we're local people we know that storms are regular here in the winter time so last week we ordered a little heavy." Asher added.

https://www.sierrafoodsmarket.com/

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