With electronic notification boards in place and bright orange traffic cones lining the roadway, it’s hard to miss the fact that Basin Avenue is currently under construction, leaving many motorists wondering just how long they will have to deal with the associated delays.
According to Nye County officials, the Basin Avenue improvement project is slated to last approximately 14 weeks in total, putting the target completion date around mid-May. In the meantime, Nye County Public Works has created a multi-stage plan for carrying out the rebuild in an effort to lessen the impact for area drivers.
During the Nye County Commission’s Feb. 7 meeting, Nye County Public Works Director Tom Bolling explained that his department, which is undertaking all prep work and excavation on the project, has already started with phase one, which includes the Basin Avenue and Blagg Road intersection. County crews will be excavating the street for 100 feet south and west of the intersection, as well as to the end of the Circle K property line to the east and north of the intersection.
“And we’ll have to redo their (Circle K’s) driveway as well, as part of what we are doing on the redesign of that intersection,” he noted.
Each section extending out of the intersection will be addressed one at a time, Bolling detailed, leading to less headaches for those traveling through the area.
“Once we get done with all four areas, we are going to break the center (of the intersection) up into sections as well, doing one corner at a time, again, diverting traffic without having to use flaggers or any of that kind of stuff,” Bolling remarked.
The Basin Avenue and Blagg Road intersection phase will take almost four weeks to complete, after which Nye County Public Works crews will move on to excavating Basin Avenue itself. This will be done in 1,000 foot segments, Bolling said, emphasizing, “We’re only going to disturb 1,000 feet at a time. So cars will come off the missing pavement, they’ll go into a shoo fly like we had on Pahrump Valley Boulevard, but it’ll only be for 1,000 feet this time… And we will do that in 1,000 foot chunks and I think there are four chunks total between the Circle K driveway and where we will start the Dahlia intersection.”
The Dahlia Street intersection is an extensive part of the project and this alone will require two phases, Bolling said. A major component of the redesign for that intersection will be the addition of a dedicated turn lane for drivers attempting to make a left-hand turn off of Basin Avenue and onto Dahlia Street.
As for the paving portion of the project, a contractor will be utilized and Bolling’s plan calls for the pavement to be laid almost immediately following the excavation work done by county public works crews.
“We put out paving bids so that once we are done with the first section of the main line, coming toward the highway from Blagg and Basin, we’ll be able to pave the Blagg and Basin intersection,” Bolling said. “Then after we get done excavating the main line, it’ll be paved while we are working on the Dahlia area. That way there is nothing that is disturbed for more than a couple thousand feet of road at one time.
“We are breaking into these various different chunks to minimize the discomfort for the traveling public. Yes, they will have to travel on gravel roads for a bit until we get it paved, but it’s better than having to travel down the side of a big open hole,” Bolling concluded.
Nye County Public Works also offered alternative routes for motorists to consider while Basin Avenue is under construction. These include Irene Street to the north, Lola Lane to the west, Wilson Road to the south and Highway 160 to the east.
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com