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Town council tours Hwy. 267 bypass project

NIK DIRGA, Sierra Sun Editor

With the construction season nearly over, the $32.5 million Highway 267 bypass project is on schedule for its summer 2002 completion.

Truckee Town Council members and other interested locals took a tour of the bypass project Friday, which included an up-close look at the bridge spanning Glenshire Drive and the Truckee River.

The bypass will link Highway 267 northeast of Truckee to Interstate 80, east of the existing Highway 89 and I-80 interchange. Proponents say it will ease congestion in the downtown Truckee area.



Bob Burton, resident engineer with Caltrans, is overseeing the project and said the work is on schedule.

“We’re making very good progress,” Burton said.



The highlight of work to date is the 1,400-foot bridge crossing over Glenshire Drive, the Truckee River and railroad tracks. The $8 million bridge will stand 110 feet above the Truckee River and become one of the area’s largest free-standing bridges.

“Some of the Interstate 80 bridges near Hirschdale are pretty big,” said Dan Wilkins, Truckee Town Engineer. “But this will clearly be the largest bridge in terms of length in the town of Truckee, and probably the largest in the entire Tahoe region.”

On Monday, the concrete for the sides and bottom of the bridge was to be poured. Burton said he hoped part of the deck, the top of the bridge, might be poured as well before the season ended.

“We hope to have all of the support columns and half of the bridge set by snowfall,” Burton said.

Wilkins said Caltrans has applied for extensions of the Oct. 15 grading deadline for construction, and that work will continue on the bypass until the weather worsens.

“They’re going to work this fall until the weather gets so bad that they can’t work anymore,” Wilkins said.


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