Granite Construction last week began assembling track for the second phase of repair work on the $5.3 million Virginia and Truckee Railway restoration project at American Flat Road in Gold Hill.
The 4.5 miles of railway reconstruction includes a 160-foot tunnel extension that will reconfigure an existing tunnel to its historical length of 600 feet, says John O'Day, project manager for Granite.
Both ends of the tunnel had been blasted closed for safety reasons, but a previous contractor already had opened the tunnel and re-shored it. Granite will rebuild caved-in end sections caused by the dynamiting.
Two of the main challenges with the project involve the large amounts of snow still on the ground and restricted access to the railway.
"It's a very rural setting," O'Day says. "The right-of-way is surrounded by BLM land or private property. Even though there are existing BLM roads here we can't use them."
O'Day expects track-laying to take at least five months. A longtime construction veteran, O'Day does not overlook the historical significance of the project.
"It's pretty interesting to be rebuilding history you don't get to do one of these every day. It's one of most unique projects I have ever had the opportunity to work on, and it's been a long time coming. There have been a lot of people working very diligently to make this dream come true. I am glad to be a part of it."
The link from Gold Hill to U.S. 50 should be completed in August or September. The railway is scheduled to run its entire 21-mile route to Carson City in 2010.
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