NYE COUNTY, NEV. – The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) yesterday awarded a $17.1 million construction contract to Road and Highway Builders LLC to improve a 32-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 95 in Nye County. The 6-month project calls for placing new asphalt pavement and turn lanes, plus creating a new 2-mile-long northbound passing lane, widening freeway shoulders, and flattening side slopes for safer vehicle turnouts.

Other upgrades entail drainage and lighting improvements, plus installing Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) wiring and conduit, hydro-seeding 4.4 acres and transplanting 366 trees. The project additionally calls for moving enough dirt to fill 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools and placing enough blacktop to pave 13,000 average-sized driveways. The undertaking will add 95 miles of rumble strips, place 400 cubic yards of riprap and install tortoise fencing and a cattle guard. The enhancements run along U.S. Highway 95 between Mile Markers 72 and 104, or roughly from 12 miles north of Beatty to 4 miles south of the Nye/Esmeralda County line. This stretch of roadway averages roughly 8,400 vehicles daily, with 18 percent of traffic coming from heavy truck travel.

Construction is expected to start in September, with work occurring 6 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. daily, Monday through Friday. There will be flagger and pilot car operation in place, safely escorting motorists through the active work zone. The contractor is expected to work in up to 2-mile increments. Motorists can expect up to 30-minute travel delays. The project, which is anticipated to finish in the spring of 2021, will create 222 direct, indirect and induced jobs.

Motorists should use caution while travelling through the work zone, heed construction signage, and take alternate detour routes, if possible. NDOT works with Waze to inform the public about planned highway restrictions, but unscheduled construction changes, closures and restrictions are possible due to weather or other factors. For the latest state highway conditions, visit nvroads.com or call 511 before driving.

NDOT and its contractors continue vital highway construction and maintenance activities upkeeping Nevada’s transportation system for essential travel and supply chain deliveries. The department actively practices COVID-19-related public health and safety protocols, including social distancing of six feet or more and restricting groups to 10 or less, thereby keeping our team, families and communities safe and connected.