Two NDOT Spaghetti Bowl plans remove direct freeway access to Reno airport

The Reno-Tahoe International Airport could lose its direct access to the freeway under current plans for revamping the Spaghetti Bowl.

The Nevada Department of Transportation is in the midst of drafting an environmental impact statement for the freeway improvement project, which aims to relieve congestion at the Spaghetti Bowl as the Reno-Sparks metro area continues to see growth.

The leading NDOT plan, however, is garnering strong criticism from the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority for what it considers a major omission.

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“This plan with NDOT wipes out our direct access to the freeway,” said Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority CEO Marily Mora during the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority meeting on Thursday. “This would take us back 30 years.”

The transportation department has three alternatives for the Plumb Lane portion of Interstate 580. The first two take out the airport’s ramps, which provide direct access to and from the northbound portion of the freeway. The third alternative keeps the ramps but is considered a longshot because it does not fully address the congestion issue, airport officials told the Reno Gazette Journal.

NDOT says work is ongoing on the Spaghetti Bowl plans.

“No design plans for future spaghetti bowl and metro interstate improvements are finalized,” said Meg Ragonese, NDOT spokeswoman.

The transportation department is also expediting an environmental review for the study, which has been pushed to a late 2018 release instead of next year. NDOT will present its recommended improvement concept at that time, Ragonese said.

The airport authority, meanwhile, says it has hired a traffic engineer to come up with alternate plans that keep the direct freeway access for the airport. The airport, however, says it was told by NDOT that it does not plan to look at any potential alternatives until it has submitted its environmental impact study. Mora expressed concern that keeping direct freeway access to the airport will become an afterthought by that point.

“We don’t want to slow down the Spaghetti Bowl project,” Mora said. “This is an important project for the community and we just want to make sure that an economic engine like the airport keeps that access. We are floored by this.”

The plan surprised several people at the RSCVA meeting, including Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve.

Schieve, who is scheduled to meet with NDOT in a week, says this was the first time she has heard of the airport ramps being removed. Given Reno’s growth, Schieve is also concerned that removing the ramps could lead to bottlenecks at Plumb Lane if all airport traffic is diverted into the same exits as well.

“Clearly, that concerns me because access to the airport is critical,” Schieve said. “All I’m saying is, NDOT needs to be really clear about what they’re trying to do because there are so many stakeholders in this and you need to make sure that everyone is brought to the table.”

The airport authority says it was blindsided by the potential removal of the ramps, only finding out about it during a general meeting with NDOT after someone said, “Oh, by the way, one of the alternatives is getting rid of the ramps,” said Daniel Bartholomew, vice president of planning, engineering and environmental management for the airport authority.

Airport officials are particularly upset that they were not consulted during the drafting of the plans for the Plumb Lane portion of the Spaghetti Bowl project. The airport authority is in the midst of implementing a 20-year master plan, which includes new infrastructure for parking and a consolidated rental area.

Taking out the ramps throws a wrench in those plans due to the access problems such a move creates, said Brian Kulpin, spokesman for the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority.

“It’s like NDOT is saying, we’re taking away these ramps and here, it’s now your problem,” Kulpin said. “We’re not just being neglected but being harmed.”

NDOT, however, pushed back on claims about lack of feedback or transparency. The project proposals were created “following a series of public meetings in 2017 and more than 100 stakeholder meetings to gather feedback,” Ragonese said.

The Spaghetti Bowl project also has a dedicated website that shows the various proposed plans as well as progress updates on the project.

In a previous interview with the Reno Gazette Journal, the agency stated that a traffic study showed that the airport’s direct access ramps are not used as often.

In response, the airport says that the numbers used by NDOT and the Regional Transportation Commission does not take into account the future passenger growth projected for the airport. Reno-Tahoe International Airport just hit 4 million passengers last year for the first time since 2008. It projects that the number will grow to 6.5 million by 2038, eclipsing the 5 million peak set prior to the recession. The airport also has 2,500 employees.

As far as the additional costs that the Spaghetti Bowl project will sustain by keeping the ramps, the airport says it should still fall within the scope of the project.

“This is estimated to be a $3 billion to $5 billion project so whatever millions it is going to cost to adjust the ramp is a very small decimal of a percent of that total cost,” Bartholomew said.

NDOT, meanwhile, says the public and the airport will have a chance to share their input once the draft environmental impact statement for the project is released. Additional public meetings also will be held afterward.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with the public and stakeholders, including the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, to develop interstate improvements to keep our entire region safe and mobile,” Ragonese said.