Study will look at new routes to Lamoille Highway (2024)

ADELLA HARDING Elko Daily Correspondent

ELKO— When train cars derailed in Elko, shutting down the 12th Street bridge and in turn causing traffic jams as commuters headed from Spring Creek and then back, longtime talks about another route took on new urgency.

Now, Elko County commissioners plan to study options.

Traffic was backed up for hours Feb. 28 when the 12th Street bridge was closed and the only route to and from Lamoille Highway and Spring Creek was Fifth Street over the Humboldt River. One bridge is not enough for all the people living in Spring Creek traveling to and from their jobs.

A Union Pacific Railroad freight train derailed, knocking 16 cars carrying corn off the tracks and shutting down rail traffic. The 12th Street bridge over the river was blocked until it could be declared safe because at least one train car hit a bridge piling. No one was hurt.

Commissioners on Wednesday authorized the selection of a consulting firm to conduct a feasibility study for connections to Lamoille Highway and an alternate route to Spring Creek, but first they protested the county staff’s ranking of four consulting firms.

In the end, they decided to move Elko-based Summit Engineering to the top of the list because Summit had already started looking at alternate routes at the request of Assemblyman Bert Gurr, R-Elko, in a meeting that included Elko County Commissioner Rex Steninger.

They also supported Summit because Summit is a longtime Elko business.

A committee ranked the consulting firms that answered the county’s request for proposals, putting Wood Rodgers at the top, followed by DJ&A, Summit and DOWL.

Deputy Civil District Attorney Rand Greenburg told commissioners that under state statute the professional consultants should be hired based on competence and qualifications, not fees.

“The review committee recommended to proceed with Wood Rodgers based on the proposals that were received. Ultimately, all the firms that submitted responses were qualified,” Elko County Manager Amanda Osborne said in a Friday email.

She said commissioners voted to move forward with Summit Engineering, but “if staff cannot reach a reasonable agreement with Summit Engineering, we will engage with Wood Rodgers and start negotiations with them.”

“This has really stirred up some of my people,” said Steninger, who told commissioners Gurr contacted him concerning working on an alternative route, and Summit started pro bono maps on the project. Spring Creek Association President Jessie Bahr was also upset she wasn’t included, he said.

“We need to table this and get everybody on board,” Steninger said before the board continued discussion and unanimously voted to move Summit to the top of the list.

He read comments from the assemblyman asking that Summit's efforts “not be for nothing,” and urging the county to hire Summit, which has been in Elko and paying taxes for years.

Commissioner Delmo Andreozzi said he had asked Osborne to put the Lamoille Highway route study on the agenda back in March, and he wasn’t sure what happened with Gurr.

“We’ve talked for years and years and there is all this conjecture. We don’t even have an alignment,” Andreozzi said, adding the county needs options and ideas. “If we don’t bypass Elko and Spring Creek continues to grow at the rate it is, we are still going to have congestion problems.”

He also told commissioners it is “entirely up to this board” which firm is hired. “It’s just how the rankings shook out. It’s nothing worth fretting over.”

Commissioner Travis Gerber said there have been questions from the community, and there needs to be a comprehensive study. “The community needs to know the cost of these alignments.”

Steninger said he agreed about the need and made a motion to put Summit at the top of the list, followed by Wood Rodgers. Osborne said Wood Rodgers is already studying Lamoille Highway in a safety study for the Nevada Department of Transportation.

Wood Rodgers is based in Sacramento but has offices in Reno and Las Vegas, DJ&A is headquartered in Missoula, Montana, and has an office in Reno. DOWL has an office in Elko and in seven other Western states. Andreozzi said DOWL does the county’s road projects.

The county’s request for proposals states the study should cover improvements in safety and mobility, possible alignments of a secondary access route, reduction in traffic congestion, population growth, social and community impacts, estimated costs and possible funding sources, as well as any potential savings in maintenance and construction costs.

Additionally, the request says 66% of Elko County’s population lives on either end of Lamoille Highway, which is SR 227, and traffic filters over the Humboldt River at the 12th Street and Fifth Street bridges so “any disruption to the highway or either bridge disrupts traffic flow and makes it impossible to move people around in an emergency.”

The county’s proposal calls for the study to begin in August and be completed by July 2025.