In what will create more short term traffic headaches and hoped for long term improvements, both bridges on Arlington Avenue (seen here from above in a photo provided by the RTC) will be replaced starting next Spring, with at least one year of construction needed.
Both bridges are still safe but have been deemed structurally deficient due to age and repeated flooding.
The north bridge, connecting First Street to the Truckee River island, was originally constructed in 1921, while the south bridge, connecting the island to Island Avenue, was built in the late 1930s.
The $32 million project will build bridges mostly similar to what’s currently there, with the caveat of just one pier on the north bridge, rather than the present two, but the same height to preserve the hydraulic capacity of the river, and to not impact the floodplain.
The design consultant for this project will be Jacobs Engineering of Reno, with Granite Construction doing the bulk of the work, including in-river construction starting in July next year.
The project is a partnership between the RTC of Washoe County, NDOT, the Federal Highway Administration, the Army Corps of Engineering and the Carson-Truckee Water Conservancy District. It got a political kickoff in mid August with U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen as well as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in Reno making speeches.
"We're laying the groundwork for a better future based on a twin philosophy. First, a philosophy that says the ideas aren't going to all come from Washington. As a matter of fact, out of the 60 thousand projects we're funding, zero of those were designed in Department of Transportation headquarters; the ideas aren't going to come from Washington, but more of the funding should." Buttigieg said.
According to a DOT press release, it was part of his so-called Summer of Construction Tour to “celebrate investments made possible by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Across the country, projects are underway to improve safety and the way people get around their communities, create new opportunities for American workers and small businesses, and strengthen our supply chains and lower the costs of everyday goods.”
The Sierra Street and Keystone Avenue bridges are also up for redos in the years ahead, while the new Virginia Street bridge had its ribbon cutting ceremony in 2016.