Interstate 580 in Nevada--When is it to be finished?

[Rover_0]

I've looked over some information about I-580 and noticed that it is supposed to be complete sometime next year (2011)...is this true?  What more needs to be done?

[roadfro]

There are two separate projects that are constructing portions of future I-580:

1.) I-580 Extension Project:  Mt. Rose Hwy/SR 431 in south Reno (current end of US 395 freeway) through Pleasant Valley to Bowers Mansion Rd/SR 429 (north of Washoe Lake). Most of the bridges are finished, except for one of the two sides of the Galena Creek Bridge. Grading has taken place on other parts of the project, but to my knowledge, no pavement has been placed yet.  This project is slated to be completed sometime in 2011.

2.) Carson City Freeway:  Phase 1 built the freeway from the north end of Carson City to US 50 east of the city--this opened in 2006.  Phase 2A extended the freeway south another mile or so to Fairview Drive--this opened September 2009. Phase 2B will complete the bypass to US 50 west/US 395 south on the south end of town. Although some bridge work on this phase has been brought out as a separate construction contract which should be underway soon (if not so already), the final freeway connection is currently unfunded with an uncertain time frame for completion--earliest estimates seem to be around 2014, although it could be longer than that.


Even with the I-580 extension project wrapping up sometime next year, I doubt NDOT will try to sign any part of I-580 at that time. If they do, it would likely be either down to the current end of the freeway in Reno, or maybe down to the US 50 interchange in Carson City.

[kaothinterceptor]

If you use the original plans for this, 2003.

[roadfro]

If you use the original plans for this, 2003.

The first construction package/contract on the I-580 project didn't even start until late 2003. The original completion timeline for this project was projected to have the extension open to traffic sometime in 2008.

The first contractor and NDOT had a dispute in 2005 on the feasibility of the proposed construction methods for the Galena Creek Bridge, which led to mutual termination of the contract. The entire project was shut down for more than a year (through most of 2006) as NDOT settled with the old contractor then repackaged and re-bid the project before the current contractor came on board. The shutdown and repackaging eliminated the ~1.5 year overlap between the original Package A & Package B projects...thus, we're at the point where three years overdue makes a certain amount of sense given the conditions.

[J N Winkler]

If you use the original plans for this, 2003.

What plans?

[Interstate Trav]

Is the I-580 US 395 Corridor the connector for Los Angeles to Reno, or is it I-80 west to I-5 South?

[TheStranger]

Is the I-580 US 395 Corridor the connector for Los Angeles to Reno, or is it I-80 west to I-5 South?

I-580 corridor is only from Reno to Carson City.

[roadfro]

Is the I-580 US 395 Corridor the connector for Los Angeles to Reno, or is it I-80 west to I-5 South?

I-580 corridor is only from Reno to Carson City.

I'm guessing the original question was intending to ask whether I-580 and US 395 would be the route one would take from Reno to get to Los Angeles... Nevada's I-580 will go no further south than Carson City (and no further north than the current terminus at I-80 in Reno).

If so, that is one plausible route between Reno and LA. Without having made either drive, I would guess that US 395 is probably the most direct route to take, but I-80 to I-5 would likely be the faster way.

[Interstate Trav]

That actually was what I meant, was the I-580/395 is the Los Angeles Reno Route, I know I-580 isn't going to get extended, that far south.  It would need to be a primary Interstate for that.  I just wonder is it a better route to take I-5 I-80 or US 395.

Also this is probably a dumb question but is the reason to put up the I-580 shields just for the funding?  Since it's being multiplexed with an existing freeway, and to add Carson City to the interstate system?

[J N Winkler]

Also this is probably a dumb question but is the reason to put up the I-580 shields just for the funding?  Since it's being multiplexed with an existing freeway, and to add Carson City to the interstate system?

I don't think I-580 is chargeable Interstate.  If this is correct, the parts of it that opened or received the I-580 designation after 2003 are also ineligible for IM funding for 3R/4R work.  It is my understanding that NDOT has been very slow actually to post I-580 shields either as trailblazers or on pull-through signs.

[TheStranger]

Is the I-580 US 395 Corridor the connector for Los Angeles to Reno, or is it I-80 west to I-5 South?

I-580 corridor is only from Reno to Carson City.

I'm guessing the original question was intending to ask whether I-580 and US 395 would be the route one would take from Reno to get to Los Angeles... Nevada's I-580 will go no further south than Carson City (and no further north than the current terminus at I-80 in Reno).

If so, that is one plausible route between Reno and LA. Without having made either drive, I would guess that US 395 is probably the most direct route to take, but I-80 to I-5 would likely be the faster way.

Comparing via Google Maps...

80 to 5 is 516 miles
80 to Business 80 to 99 to 5 is 515 miles
395 to 14 to 5 is 470 miles

I think where the 395 route doesn't save time is in towns like Bishop though (with stoplights and such).

[Interstate Trav]

So 395 is slightly shorter.  I imagine, that the slower speed limit on 395 also wouldn't help with being quicker then I-80 to I-5. 

[myosh_tino]

US 395 is shorter mileage-wise (515 vs 472) but 80/Bus 80/99/5 is faster by almost half an hour (8:29 vs 8:54).  All information gathered from Google Maps.

[Bickendan]

Also this is probably a dumb question but is the reason to put up the I-580 shields just for the funding?  Since it's being multiplexed with an existing freeway, and to add Carson City to the interstate system?

I don't think I-580 is chargeable Interstate.  If this is correct, the parts of it that opened or received the I-580 designation after 2003 are also ineligible for IM funding for 3R/4R work.  It is my understanding that NDOT has been very slow actually to post I-580 shields either as trailblazers or on pull-through signs.

IIRC, the only indication that the new freeway was I-580 were the postmiles.

[roadfro]

Also this is probably a dumb question but is the reason to put up the I-580 shields just for the funding?  Since it's being multiplexed with an existing freeway, and to add Carson City to the interstate system?

I don't think I-580 is chargeable Interstate.  If this is correct, the parts of it that opened or received the I-580 designation after 2003 are also ineligible for IM funding for 3R/4R work.  It is my understanding that NDOT has been very slow actually to post I-580 shields either as trailblazers or on pull-through signs.

IIRC, the only indication that the new freeway was I-580 were the postmiles.

I-580 is not currently signed anywhere along the mainline or side streets. A few official Nevada state maps in the 1980s put the I-580 shield on the freeway, but there is nothing on any recent maps or signs. There is indication that I-580 used to be signed along the intersecting side streets in the 1980s, but not along the freeway itself.

All the mileposts on the current US 395 freeway in Reno indicate "IR 580". These are misleading for various reasons:

• IR 580 mileposts go from SR 431/Mt Rose Hwy (Exit 56) all the way up north of the I-80 interchange to the Panther Valley/SR 430/US 395 Business interchange (Exit 72)--that's a distance of about 16 miles.
• NDOT and FHWA logs only recognize about 5 miles of I-580 from Neil Road (exit 62) to I-80 (exit 68).
• Portions of Virginia Street (old US 395) still have "US 395" milepost stickers on traffic signal poles, despite the fact that much of the old highway is or was SR 430 more recently.

In any event, all recent BGS signs put up either on the mainline or on signs leading to US 395 have been designed without I-580 shield, but leave room for a shield to be added to the sign panel later on.


Although the highway is not signed at all, most locals in Reno will know where I-580 is located (or where it is supposed to be when fully officially designated). This may partly be due to the fact that the freeway extension under construction just south of Reno is almost universally referred to (by NDOT and others) as the "I-580 Freeway Extension". This somewhat leads me to believe that I-580 shields will go up when that project is done, despite the fact that the Carson City Bypass will not be complete until at least 2014.

[Henry]

In any event, all recent BGS signs put up either on the mainline or on signs leading to US 395 have been designed without I-580 shield, but leave room for a shield to be added to the sign panel later on.


Although the highway is not signed at all, most locals in Reno will know where I-580 is located (or where it is supposed to be when fully officially designated). This may partly be due to the fact that the freeway extension under construction just south of Reno is almost universally referred to (by NDOT and others) as the "I-580 Freeway Extension". This somewhat leads me to believe that I-580 shields will go up when that project is done, despite the fact that the Carson City Bypass will not be complete until at least 2014.

Or it could all end up as one big tease, just as it was with I-595 east of DC. On the Capital Beltway, most, if not all, BGS's directing motorists to US 50 East (Annapolis) have a blank space where an I-595 shield was supposed to go, but somehow this was never done, because everyone already knew it as US 50, and so this is why the BGS's look like that.

[roadfro]

NDOT is unlikely to "tease" people with this I-580 designation. Experience with I-515 in Las Vegas/Henderson shows that:

Back when I was growing up in Vegas in the 1980s, there wasn't much talk about the "I-515" designation at all, even though the freeway spur had been in the works since the 70s. The freeway was continually expanded throughout the 80s and early 90s, but only the US 93/US 95 designations were applied to it. As soon as the full extent of the freeway was completed to Railroad Pass in late 1994/early 1995, NDOT had put up new I-515 shields all along the ~20 miles of freeway between there and I-15 as well as on side street approaches. Over 15 years later, the location of I-515 is generally understood by valley residents, yet most locals still refer to that stretch solely as "the 95".

I anticipate the I-580 shields will go up quickly once NDOT reaches some construction milestone--presumably once the I-580 Freeway Extension project is complete. My guess is that NDOT would sign the Interstate from I-80 in Reno south along the current freeway and the extension, through Washoe Valley, and phase 1 of the Carson City Freeway to end at the US 50 interchange in Carson City. This would leave a 1-mile section of freeway in Carson without the I-580 shields, which would probably wait until all of phase 2 of the Carson Freeway was complete sometime around 2014 (or later, depending on construction funding). Many Reno/Sparks/Carson City locals will probably still call it "395" though, despite the new Interstate shields.

[national highway 1]

I wonder why Nevada uses a 5xx interstate spur for their first interstate spur, i.e. I-515 for US 93/95 and now I-580 for US 395?

[Quillz]

Perhaps so it sounds numerically related to 95/395? Similar to the way that "580" seems numerically connected to both I-5 and I-80.

[roadfro]

I'd guess it has more to do with the overall numbering system in the state going back to the 1976 renumbering...

The "urban" state routes are numbered in the 500's and 600's. Both I-515 and I-580 were in various planning stages around the renumbering time. My assumption is that since these 3dis would be urban spurs, the 500 numbering makes some sense.

Another plausible explanation is the fact that some of the other possible designations under the 3di numbering rules were already assigned to other routes internally in the 1976 Federal Aid Highway numbering system--off the top of my head: 115, 715 & 780 were used by other state highways, while 315, 380 were likely assigned to FAP routes not on the state highway system. Not sure about 180 though.

[roadfro]

Bumping with an update on the project...the Galena Creek Bridge south of Reno, Nevada is nearing completion.

Galena Creek Bridge nears completion as workers overcome obstacles, taggers

It's the last big push.

Workers are swarming over Northern Nevada's largest highway project – construction of a final stretch of freeway linking Reno to Carson City – with the aim of opening the road to traffic about one year from now.

"This is our really big year,"  Brad Durski, project manager for the Nevada Department of Transportation, said of this summer's construction season.

Work on the project's most striking feature, the massive Galena Creek Bridge, is nearing completion as temporary supporting structures are removed and its huge cathedral arch takes more visible shape.

(See article link for rest of article and 24 project photos)



Once completed, the bridge, at 300 feet high, 1700 feet long with a 700-foot concrete arch supported main span, will be the largest bridge of its type in the world. The bridge is a key component of the Interstate 580 extension project, which is slated to wrap up next summer.

The project is constructing 8.5 miles of new Interstate-standard highway between the current terminus of the US 395 freeway in south Reno and an existing freeway section of US 395 in Washoe Valley (north of Carson City). The new freeway will alleviate traffic along the current four-lane highway in Pleasant Valley--that section of US 395 sees constant speeding and has been one of the highways in Nevada with the highest crash rates over the last several years, due to commuters as well as tourist traffic between Reno and Lake Tahoe.

[qguy]

(See article link for rest of article and 24 project photos)

Article link?


Mod Note: Sorry about that. Link added in original post. --roadfro

[roadfro]

Another update: the Galena Creek Bridge is now mostly complete, and paving is underway

Reno-Carson freeway nearing completion
By Geoff Dornan, Nevada Appeal, 7/31/11

[gonealookin]

An update in today's Reno paper has the completion date as June 2012 (obviously depending on this winter's weather issues).

http://www.rgj.com/article/20111211/NEWS/112070409/Geologic-surprise-boosts-freeway-s-cost-20-million

Farther south, a couple of smaller overpasses were completed this summer for the future final phase of the Carson City Bypass but there's no grading or anything like that going on, nor has any work been started on the major interchange at the south junction of 50 and 395 where 50 heads up the hill to Lake Tahoe.

[roadfro]

An update in today's Reno paper has the completion date as June 2012 (obviously depending on this winter's weather issues).
http://www.rgj.com/article/20111211/NEWS/112070409/Geologic-surprise-boosts-freeway-s-cost-20-million

I had been wondering about this, having recalled that previous projections were indicating a 2011 completion.

Discovery of substandard soil thought to be bedrock along a portion of the I-580 project increased the project cost by $20 million and added an additional six months to the construction schedule. Though the project cost increased, NDOT did get a long-term savings because of it--5.5 miles of the project are now going to be paved with PCC instead of asphalt at no additional cost to the state:
http://www.rgj.com/article/20111211/NEWS/112070415/Dispute-led-road-being-concrete

Farther south, a couple of smaller overpasses were completed this summer for the future final phase of the Carson City Bypass but there's no grading or anything like that going on, nor has any work been started on the major interchange at the south junction of 50 and 395 where 50 heads up the hill to Lake Tahoe.

NDOT took some of the utility relocation and bridge construction from the final phase of the Carson City Bypass (phase 2B) and accelerated it into separate smaller projects. If I recall correctly, NDOT was able to apply some funding for building these bridges utilizing the favorable construction conditions due to the recession--i.e. savings from other projects coming in under budget and lower than usual contractor bids.

Grading and such for the mainline construction, as well as another overpass and the US 50/395 interchange, are still up in the air as funding has not yet been identified. Last I can recall reading, construction on the final segment was being pushed out to at least 2014 at the earliest.