Down life’s crooked road

Something new will be tried in Sparks—a roundabout located part way down a freeway exit ramp.

The off-ramp is the one that leads to Nugget Avenue and empties at the corner of 14th Street and Nugget.

Eastbound drivers will leave the freeway, drive down the exit ramp, encounter and pass through the roundabout, and then continue on the exit ramp to its end at 14th Street.

On the left side of the exit ramp is a Nugget Casino parking lot. The roundabout is intended to provide Nugget drivers an entrance and exit from the parking lot on the exit ramp instead of the current practice of sending traffic through a driveway onto a nearby surface street.

Construction on the roundabout will begin after the July 4 holiday and should take about four weeks, in time for the Hot August Nights special event.

On June 16, state highway department spokesperson Scott Magruder reported, “The apparent low bidder is Q&D Construction of Reno with a bid of $484,484. The contract has not been awarded but is expected to be in the next week.”