Truckee roads: What to look for this construction season
Sierra Sun
TRUCKEE ” As the weather warms and the snow melts, a regular sight once again emerges for the summer. Orange cones are sprouting up on Truckee streets signaling a new season has arrived ” construction season.
“The bulk of our road projects will happen late in the summer and fall,” said Dan Wilkins, director of public works and engineering.
That will include slurry-sealing about 45 miles worth of roads throughout town, from the west end of Donner Lake to Glenshire and points in between, Wilkins said.
But one project already started Monday ” the completion of road widening and bike lanes on Donner Pass Road along Donner Lake.
“Our goal is to be finished by the 1st of July,” Wilkins said of the Donner Lake roadwork.
The project started last summer with drainage work to improve runoff into the lake, and will finish this summer with widening and re-paving the road to create space for bike lanes in both directions, Wilkins said.
During the roughly one-and-a-half weeks of actual paving, Wilkins predicted delays along Donner Lake of up to 10 minutes, while the rest of the work should only delay drivers three to five minutes.
The intersection of Donner Pass Road and South Shore Drive will also be squared-off, Wilkins said.
“We hope to force traffic to slow down a little more at that intersection and hopefully reduce accidents,” Wilkins said.
Two more roundabouts are also scheduled for construction later in the summer ” one at the intersection of Pioneer Trail and Donner Pass Road and the other at Alder Drive and Highway 89.
The roundabout at Pioneer will be built mid-summer with the goal of finishing by Oct. 15, and the Alder roundabout being finished by East-West Partners mid-summer.
Both will entail some traffic controls, but shouldn’t mean road closures, Wilkins said.
Other small projects will include drainage work in Tahoe Donner and new thermoplastic-striped crosswalks on Donner Pass Road in the school zone, along with the usual sand removal and lane re-striping, Wilkins said.
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