Kingsbury Grade paving set for spring

Four miles of Kingsbury Grade between U.S. Highway 50 and the summit will undergo construction in the spring.

Engineers plan to take the road down to the base and are looking for ways to do it in the most efficient way possible. That might entail closing the grade for a month over one season instead of stretching the construction out over multiple seasons.

State highway officials will hold public meetings in late January or early February to let residents know what they plan to do.

State Assistant Construction Engineer Sharon Foerschler said the state wants to reduce the work time on Kingsbury as much as possible.

Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Magruder said 10,000 vehicles a day use the intersection at U.S. Highway 50 and Kingsbury. About half of that traffic consists of commuters from Carson Valley.

Many of the workers at the Stateline casinos live in Carson Valley and commute over the grade every day.

The last major project on Kingsbury was the $6.8 million Peek Construction erosion-control project, which ran from 2009-11. Peek sued the state in January 2012, claiming it was owed $3 million.