Plan cuts $15.5 million from Carson freeway cost

Work on the five-mile stretch, from U.S. 50 East in the middle of town south to a turnoff for Lake Tahoe, is expected to begin in 2004 or 2005. Early estimates set the cost at $160 million.

Cost-cutting suggestions include lowering part of the planned freeway, a step that the Nevada Department of Transportation estimates could save money in construction and right-of-way changes.

The ideas emerged from a week-long series of meetings in July, hosted by NDOT, at which engineers, city officials, hydrologists and others discussed the best and most cost-efficient way to design the roadway.

A report on their findings was released Wednesday after a review by NDOT Director Tom Stephens.

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