North end: I‑80 east of Sparks | Length 10.07 km | |
South end: Tahoe Reno Industrial Center Counties Storey County, Nevada, Lyon County, Nevada (future) | ||
State Route 439 (SR 439) is a four-lane state highway in Storey County, Nevada. Better known as USA Parkway, the route currently connects Interstate 80 (I-80) to the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center (TRIC) located east of Reno. The existing USA Parkway was initially constructed by the industrial center's developers; however, the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) agreed to assume control of the road after Tesla announced plans to build its Gigafactory at TRIC in 2014. NDOT is planning to rehabilitate existing USA Parkway and complete the long-planned extension of the road south to U.S. Route 50 in Lyon County by the end of 2017.
Contents
Map of NV-439, Sparks, NV 89434, USA
History
The owners of the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center constructed USA Parkway for $60 million in 2007 specifically to provide access to TRIC (touted as the largest industrial park in the United States) in Storey County.
As of August 2009, it was reported that 10 miles (16 km) of roadway had been completed—the southernmost 4 miles (6.4 km) to the Lyon county line had only been graded and were still awaiting pavement—while roughly 7 miles (11 km) of the route to reach US 50 remained unconstructed.
Expansion plans
As the plans for TRIC were realized with many large companies moving in, greater plans were made for USA Parkway. As early as 2004, the road was proposed to connect with US 50 near Silver Springs, for a total distance between I-80 and US 50 of about 18 miles (29 km). The connection to Silver Springs would increase regional mobility and provide air-freight shipping possibilities at nearby Silver Springs Airport. Proponents of the USA Parkway southern expansion proposed the idea of having USA Parkway accepted into Nevada's state highway system as State Route 805, but NDOT did not take such action.
In 2012 and early 2013, the road network was found to fall short of TRIC's future needs. Expansion for 2017 was calculated to have a network-wide benefit–cost ratio of 9.1 (with 30-year benefits of $600 million for costs of $66 million), and a travel reduction time of 38%, as the increased traffic could use the shorter 439 for TRIC and avoid the congestion around Reno.
Expansion project
Tesla announced plans to locate its "Gigafactory" battery production facility at TRIC in 2014. To support the projected travel demand of 6,000 vehicles per day, the Nevada Department of Transportation's Board of Directors approved a design-build project to complete the southern extension of USA Parkway in an expedited manner, two years earlier than projected. The project, which involves NDOT taking over USA Parkway for $43 million, is planned for completion in December 2017 and is expected to cost between $65 million and $70 million. The funds to fast-track the USA Parkway build-out were obtained by deferring maintenance projects on seven other northern Nevada highways. 80 workers are on site 24/6 building the road in stages, with paving started in October 2016.
By 2015, NDOT had officially recognized the northernmost 6.255 miles (10.066 km) of USA Parkway as State Route 439.