Work starts on V&T bike path

Workers closed a trail to walkers Monday for the next 30 days while they turn the abandoned Virginia & Truckee Railroad grade from West Washington Street to Murphy Drive in Carson City into a paved recreation path.

The $680,000 project was seven years in the making and will result in a combination of bike lanes and paths that skirt through the city and into the hills.

"It's definitely good news," said Nevada Department of Transportation Department spokesman Scott Magruder. "When it's done, walkers and bikers will have a better trail to walk and ride on."

Carson City pitched in $200,850, a 20 percent match to a state enhancement grant, for the project and worked to get easements from area property owners. Of the city's total, $100,400 was spent acquiring easements.

The path is 11U4 miles long through the city and will range from 6 to 14 feet wide depending on the width of right-of-way easements.

Crews expect to finish the trail by the end of November, Magruder said.

Walkers will be prohibited from using the trail for at least 30 days to give workers room to pave.

In the end, the trail will offer an on-street bicycle path and an off-street multi-use path between Kings Canyon Road and Combs Canyon Road.

The path will start at Kings Canyon Road, go north along Longview Way, head east alongside the Wellington Crescent subdivision, cross behind Western Nevada Community College property and end at Murphy Road near Combs Canyon.