CARSON CITY – The Nevada Department of Transportation has completed a project to replace an aging bridge on State Route 396/Upper Valley Road north of Lovelock.
The bridge, located where State Route 396/Upper Valley Road transitions into a frontage road and travels over Union Pacific Railroad tracks, was originally constructed in 1931. Before being replaced, travel over the aging bridge had been prohibited for heavy commercial vehicles over recent years.
As part of the project launched in fall of 2023, NDOT removed and replaced the aging bridge with a more than thirty-two foot wide steel girder bridge, providing a four-foot wider roadway.
With the new bridge now open, the frontage road between I-80 Coal Canyon exit 112 and Oreana exit 119 is open to traffic after being temporarily closed for bridge replacement. Brief lane closures may still periodically take place for finishing construction. Interstate traffic will not be impacted.
The bridge replacement is one part of NDOT’s bridge inspection and preservation program which has helped lead Nevada’s bridges to be ranked among the nation’s very best for the past nine years. NDOT inspects the majority of bridges, including city and county-maintained structures, every two years. Bridges with more extensive deterioration are inspected more often, while select newer bridges are inspected every four years. In just two recent years, NDOT dedicated approximately $17 million to bridge preservation.