Line painted stalls Highway 50 traffic

Traffic was stalled Thursday on Highway 50 East because of striping work related to Graves Lane.

Street Operations Manager John Flansberg said construction workers had to partition off part of Highway 50 for protection because the striping work was being done on the edge of the road.

Graves Lane, a 7,770-foot extension some compare to Reno's McCarran Road, is scheduled for completion Nov. 15. Regional Transportation Commission Chairman Jon Plank said landscaping work could force the road to open later, though. Plank said he wasn't anxious to see the extension open until all workers are away, and the road is done.

"I've told staff I'm not to anxious to open it until it's really finished," Plank said. "It's about more than people working out there. How would you feel if you hit somebody? Not very good. It only takes a moment of inattention for something to happen."

The roughly $6.3 million project is on budget. Workers are completing landscaping, concrete work, sidewalks and other small touch-up repairs to the road. Flansberg told city supervisors while many small things remained to be finished, the major work including paving and utility work was completed.