UPDATE (Aug. 12): The council passed the measure for the city manager to draft a bill authorizing the project.
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Sparks City Council members on Monday will consider whether to send a proposal to the state legislature that would create a “demonstration” toll road project from La Posada Drive to USA Parkway. The concept, if approved, would be the only bill draft request the city can submit for the 2025 session in Carson City.
The toll road would connect Sparks to the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center (TRIC) via a new connector road. The proposal, to be discussed during the council’s meeting on Monday, Aug. 12, aims to ease traffic congestion on Pyramid Way and Interstate 80. It’s estimated that nearly 25,000 people work at the TRIC, traveling daily to facilities such as a Walmart Distribution Center, the Tesla-Panasonic Gigafactory and a Google data center.
If the bill draft request were to pass through the legislative process successfully and be signed by the governor, it would amend Nevada law to authorize the Washoe RTC to create a public-private partnership to issue bonds to design, build, operate and maintain the toll road.
The proposal is based on a 2011 Nevada law that required a similar project in southern Nevada for the Boulder City Bypass. However, the Sparks proposal differs in one aspect.
“Where SB506 required RTC of Southern Nevada to establish the Boulder City Bypass Project, this BDR would authorize—but not require—RTC of Washoe County to pursue the La Posada to USA Parkway Connection Project as a toll road,” according to Assistant City Manager Alyson McCormick.
Nevada law prohibits toll roads, so proposals such as this from Sparks must secure legislative approval to proceed. McCormick, in the staff report, notes that the scale of a connector between Spanish Springs and TRIC will require major financing. The deadline for submission of a BDR for the 2025 legislative session is Sept. 1.
Source: City of Sparks
