Freeways in Reno

[viajera80]

In true Reno fashion, there is a lot of construction work happening on the two freeways that run through town. I'm not sure how far along they will be around the end of August, but here's the skinny so far:

Coming from the West on I-80 the lanes narrow around downtown Reno. Traffic has been gnarly here for the past few weeks. The lanes around the Spaghetti Bowl have changed and if you are on the Wells Avenue entrance you have to merge into freeway traffic rather than freeway traffic merging onto Wells. The Virginia Street entrance onto I-80 East is bad, avoid it if you can.

Coming from the South on US-395, the lanes have changed again around the Bowl and anyone getting onto I-80 West or East will have to keep an eye out for the I-80 entrances early. US-395 in South Reno has a few 45 and 55 mph areas due to construction. The rush hour traffic on 395 heading north is really bad, so time your drive. The 395 N entrance onto I-80 West (heading toward the University) has also changed, the entrance now directs you right on Wells Avenue (don't ask me why).

Point is, when coming into Reno, slow down and keep an eye out for those ubiquitous orange cones.

[Playa+Tom]

I-80 as always has construction work in progress. It does not seem as bad as in years past, just stay alert.

[dinks]

The entire I-80 is scheduled to be re-surfaced in Reno from what I understand. The company that won the bid is well known for shutting lanes down and closing traffic down to one lane even when no work is being done to the road. So look out for cones and long lines from about Keystone to past the 395 interchange.

On the plus side, they do appear to be working pretty fast so who know what it will look like in 47 days.

[jojofroyo]

I live right above I-80 and traffic is messed up all the time now!
I would say on average from 1pm-130pm until about 6pm it is bumper to bumper traffic moving at around 15mph!
I dont think the traffic will let up anytime soon, they are doing so much work to I-80 and the spaghetti bowl that they will probably still be working well into Sept-Oct if not lasting into next summer. I remember the last time they did any work on the spaghetti bowl it lasted 2 full summers.

I would recommend to anyone coming from the west through Reno to just get off at Mccarren either go all the way down to Pyramid Highway on Mccarren or take Mccarren to Clear Acre/Sun Valley Rd. cruise through Sun Valley and get onto Pyramid Highway out in Spanish Springs(cuts down on all the lights on Mccarren and Pyramid. Use to be very quick, but development is catching up) Once on Pyramid Highway just follow it all the way to the lake, make the turn that keeps you on the west side of the lake heading south and then you meet up with the road that goes to the Playa at that little gas station by the lake.

Pyramid Highway has a lot less little hills to, so you car/truck isnt constantly going up and down, forcing you to shift up and down, so it probably saves a little gas. The roads are straighter to, so you dont have to slow down as much for all the turns.

It sounds complicated, but in general can knock almost 20-30 minutes off a normal drive to the Playa, probably about a hour with all the construction going on. I have taken this route on every trip to the playa except for my first Burning Man( I just didnt know how crappy that road is out there) and my first year part of a theme camp (we drove out in a convoy so I had no say) I swear by it.

Last year me and my roommate(him driving his truck, me driving mine) left at the same time as 2 girls in our camp, we didnt tell them about the way we went, we got to the playa about 45 minutes before them and we were dragging trailers out there, they were in a tiny Honda.

Thats just my trick, hope it helps somebody get around all the traffic in Reno!



P.s. sorry if I misspelled Mccarren, my computer keeps saying it wrong but I thought that was how you spelled it.

[Bounce530]

hehe, I love my easy hwy70E to 395S to 80E route. Beautiful, no traffic, no construction easy, easy ride.
This is what most of my route looks like. This was taken on my way to the burn-

[junglesmacks]

"Where we're going.. we don't need.. roads."

[lucky420]

Cunstruction on I80 is also going on at the Wadsworth and both Fernley exits. They have just about finished the Wadsworth exit area (I think although lots of cones still up along highway) Construction at both Fernley exits looks to be about midway finished, hopefully will be done by Aug 29th. Haven't been any delays, just the roadway narrowed down to one lane and that is for just a short stretch.

[LostinReno]

At least the great I-80 luge between Farad & Truckee is finally gone!

[lucky420]

Just saw on the local news last night that Reno will have another luge starting today from Keystone exit to Wells exit on I80. Supposed to be under construction until Oct 11...

[ibdave]

So, any updates on the I-80 Luges spottings ??

[lucky420]

the luge from Keystone exit to the Wells exit in Reno is still up...

[lucky420]

was in Loomis Ca about 2 weeks ago and I80 is still torn to shit over Donner , drive careful California

[LostinReno]

Yup, the I-80 luge through Reno is still going strong, just go the speed limit, you'll be fine. Unless someone wrecks, you can get through it in 15-20 minutes during peak traffic. It's still not as bad/narrow as that one that existed near Farad the past two years. I'm not sure what McCarran in NW Reno is like but the South is a mess, not quite a full on luge but a single lane cone fest between S.Virginia and Longley (starting at about where Trader Joe's is). I was on it a couple of times yesterday and traffic flow was fine.

[jojofroyo]

[quote="LostinReno"]Yup, the I-80 luge through Reno is still going strong, just go the speed limit, you'll be fine. Unless someone wrecks, you can get through it in 15-20 minutes during peak traffic. It's still not as bad/narrow as that one that existed near Farad the past two years. I'm not sure what McCarran in NW Reno is like but the South is a mess, not quite a full on luge but a single lane cone fest between S.Virginia and Longley (starting at about where Trader Joe's is). I was on it a couple of times yesterday and traffic flow was fine.[/quote

There isnt any construction on North McCarran in Reno. If you wanna skip the freeway coming from the west, just get off the freeway at McCarran and drive it around till you hit the freeway again on the other side of the construction. You can go either way on McCarran and still hit the freeway, but I suggest going left.

[skibear]

(\rant on) I don't ever think they'll finish the I-80 to US395 freeway interchange in our lifetime!

After 10 years it was mostly done then they found out the new asphalt had to be ripped out.
The renovation project is so old it's mostly obsolete now. Many ramps are in the wrong
place or don't have enough lanes (/rant off)

OK outside of rush hour.

[theCryptofishist]

(\rant on) I don't ever think they'll finish the I-80 to US395 freeway interchange in our lifetime!

After 10 years it was mostly done then they found out the new asphalt had to be ripped out.
The renovation project is so old it's mostly obsolete now. Many ramps are in the wrong
place or don't have enough lanes (/rant off)

OK outside of rush hour.

It's an employment scheme. It's just about the only thing holding up Reno's economy.