Patience, please, it's coming

Bids for construction work on the Carson City bypass are going to be opened next week.

Work is going to start this fall. It will be completed -- the northern half, anyway -- in about three years.

Hell will freeze over. Pigs will fly.

No, really. I think it's going to happen this time. I could be wrong, because bids were supposed to be opened yesterday and were postponed to get some clarifications on the specifications. But I do think this thing is actually going to happen this time.

I know you've all been waiting a long time -- a lot longer than I have. Generations of Carson City residents have grown up and moved away with the dream that someday there will be a highway to move trucks and other pass-through traffic around downtown.

We were encouraged, yes, when the bridges were built. Now they've become an accepted part of the landscape, kind of like the Edmonds Roundabout.

Believe it or not, it's been more than three years since the bids were opened for the bridges. It's been more than a year since people were able to walk around on the bridges and have a vision of what the highway will eventually look like.

It could happen.

Why am I so optimistic? Because the Pony Express Pavilion hosted a concert this summer that sounded good. Because the Lucky Spur is being remodeled. Because the Supply One building is becoming a casino.

These things just take time. A long, long time. We have to be patient. Very, very patient.

For example, which do you think will happen first -- the bypass will get built or the Legislature will agree on a budget?

See what I mean. It only seems like forever that the Legislature has been unable to agree on how high to raise our taxes. But they've only been meeting since February. Heck, back in February we were hoping for warm weather. That happened, didn't it?

Somebody will eventually move into the empty Wal-Mart building. The Ormsby House will reopen. Somebody will eventually move into the empty Kmart building. Sooner than later, I hope, but that's always the way. We want things to be fixed now.

I realize the bypass from Lakeview Hill to Highway 50 is only half a bypass. What, you want the whole thing at once? And miss the fun?

Somebody said to me the other day he was going to enjoy parking on Highway 50 at the intersection on the day the bypass opens to watch the expressions on the faces of out-of-town motorists.

They'll be driving south on Highway 395, follow a beautiful new highway into the north end of Carson City and get dumped in the middle of town.

If they're heading for Dayton and points east, of course, it will be very handy. If they're continuing south toward Minden or toward Stateline, they'll be wondering why they're being routed back to the highway they were just on a few minutes ago.

Clever, huh. I'm expecting the Pinon Plaza will have a rest stop and some maps to help them out.

I think we should post a big sign that says, "Welcome to Carson City. We used to have just one way to go straight through town. Now we don't have any."

But there I go being pessimistic. We will have a freeway all the way through town someday. I know we will.

We have to think big like the tycoons who built Virginia City, like builders of the V&T Railroad, like Adolph Sutro and his tunnel.

OK, so all those things went bust. But they had their heyday.

Besides, as grumpy as we get about traffic on Carson Street, the truth is that it moves along pretty well.

I cite as my evidence a July 4 visit to Tahoe City to watch fireworks. The drive along Highway 28 was beautiful as ever, and we had a good dinner with friends at the Hacienda restaurant.

We spread a blanket on the grass and chatted until darkness fell, then watched a patriotic fireworks display that lasted approximately 30 minutes. For the next 30 minutes, we did nothing but sit in the car in the parking lot waiting for traffic to move.

For the next 15 minutes, we waited in the driveway of the parking lot for traffic to move. For the 10 minutes after that, we waiting on Highway 28 for traffic to move. Finally, after a tip from a friendly passer-by, we cut through the Safeway parking lot and began making our way back to Carson City.

Never -- not after fireworks, not after the Nevada Day parade, not after an accident on Carson Street -- have I had to sit in traffic here without moving for that long.

Yes, we did get home eventually. We just had to have a little patience.