This story originally appeared in the Sierra Nevada Ally and is being republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement. Read the original version here.

To get to his job at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center (TRIC), Waylon Marvin would meander from his home in Spanish Springs near Vista Drive, through Sparks, to Interstate 80 where he would encounter growing congestion. As the only corridor to the growing industrial park, there were a variety of challenges that made the journey unpredictable and frustrating, from ongoing construction projects to increased school traffic.

On a good day, his commute took around 45 minutes, but often, it was an hour or more.

Marvin worked off USA Parkway for more than five years, and during that time, he noticed the area’s rapid growth that led to a significant increase in the volume of vehicles on the road. After working 10-12 hours daily, Marvin also faced severe congestion on his way home. Once there, he had just enough time to eat, shower, and put his kids to bed.

“I was completely exhausted and left with barely enough time to sleep before doing it all over again,” said Marvin. “This kind of routine isn’t just exhausting — it’s dangerous.”

Marvin said sleep-deprived drivers on the road are a serious hazard. Then there are spin outs and icy roads during winter months, and wildfires causing closures or delays in the summer. These unpredictable factors make commuting to the TRIC stressful and unreliable.

“An alternate route is something our area desperately needs, especially with the ongoing traffic challenges,” said Marvin.

Local planners are working to address this issue. Last fall, the Nevada Department of Transportation received federal funding to add additional travel lanes, widen shoulders, reconstruct bridges, and lay down new pavement between Vista Blvd. and USA Parkway. Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson believes that one traffic artery from the Reno-Sparks area to USA Parkway is no longer feasible.

“It’s just an unsafe road for the amount of traffic that’s on it today,” said Lawson. “Access to USA Parkway and the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center on I-80 has been a challenge.”

It’s why officials are now advocating for the construction of a new road, possibly one funded by a toll. If that were to happen, it would be the only toll road in the state.

The process for a toll road began last August when Sparks staff passed a resolution to introduce and sponsor legislation in the Nevada Legislature that would develop another corridor to the expanding employment region, connecting La Posada Avenue in Spanish Springs to USA Parkway. Touted as a demonstration project, it will test Nevada’s tolerance for a toll road. AB61 would permit the RTC to construct and fund a new route via toll collection. The bill is specific to this route and would not allow for any other toll roads in the state.

“This project aims to reduce congestion on Interstate 80, which is the only major route to the large industrial park in Storey County,” said Lawson. Sparks city staff presented AB61 to the Assembly Committee on Growth and Infrastructure last week.

This two-lane corridor would go around the Pah Rah National Conservation Area, east of Sparks, and comes with an anticipated cost of more than $500 million, funded through toll collections. Lawson said that some companies based at TRIC have offered to pay for fast passes for their workers, diverting some of the cost away from the taxpayer.

“We don’t know whether this project will pencil as a toll road, or exclusively as a toll road, but we can’t justify spending taxpayer dollars to go find out when it is not currently legal under Nevada law,” said Sparks Assistant City Manager Alison McCormick in the hearing.

This bill would essentially begin identifying the possibility of a toll road. Having a toll would give the city and state a new way to address a severe growing pain, and Lawson believes commute times would be cut in half for folks traveling from Spanish Springs. A similar project occurred in Boulder City in 2011. However, that project received federal funding after breaking ground, and the toll never materialized.

For Nevada, toll roads aren’t new. Lawson said more than 117 toll roads across northern Nevada have been built, centered around the Comstock Lode.

“I submit to you that our new Comstock Lode today is the tech industry that exists in Storey County,” he said during that same hearing.

The Nevada Department of Transportation has expenditures around $1.4 billion a year. Lawson said that $300 million of this budget goes to the DMV and Nevada Highway Patrol (about $260 million according to the Nevada Department of Transportation), with another $1 billion going to roads.

Currently, RTC views this project like a regular road undertaking and does not consider the toll aspect. While the project includes a forecast for maintenance, after 40 years, it would fall to the RTC, Washoe County, Sparks, and Reno to figure out how to maintain it, a problem Lawson and officials are punting to be solved later.

“The severity of congestion and frequency of accidents on the I-80 between Vista Boulevard and USA Parkway put the area on our radar for needing an alignment study to start coming up with ways to improve access for commuters and first responders,” said RTC Public Information Officer Josh MacEachern.

In front of the Assembly Committee on Growth and Infrastructure last Tuesday, Lawson stated the case and the need for a new route into TRIC. He said that 80 percent of the people who work in the TRIC live within Reno and Sparks. Of that 80 percent, 4 out of 5 people live north of I-80.

RTC is seeking funding from various sources, including federal dollars, discretionary grants, formula funding, fuel tax funds, public-private partnerships, or through driver-paid tolls. Though the public has not had a chance to comment, RTC plans to gather public insight.

“I think the main purpose of the toll road still is to essentially fund the construction of the road,” said MacEachern.

Assm. Jill Dickman (R-Reno) questioned how people would get to La Posada, located in the northeast corner of Spanish Springs, north of Golden Eagle Park. Lawson provided that RTC and Sparks are currently negotiating with the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony to put a road from Lemmon Valley Drive to Pyramid Highway. Both corridors would connect the northern half of the Reno-Sparks region to TRIC. That project is contingent on a federal land bill that Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) introduced to Congress earlier this month.

Marvin believes a toll road could be a viable solution for reducing congestion in Northern Nevada, especially for the workforce commuting to the TRIC. For him, the success of a toll road depends on the cost of the toll and how officials utilize the toll revenue.

“It needs to be affordable and cost-effective for daily commuters. We’re already living in an economy where expenses are high, and it wouldn’t make sense to burden community members with excessively high toll fees just to access a more efficient route,” he said.

Marvin added that transparency and accountability would be necessary for the workforce that commutes to TRIC.

“I’m not an expert in politics, but I do know that many businesses in our area have received tax breaks as incentives to relocate here. It would be ideal for these companies to contribute in some way to the construction and maintenance of a toll road or alternative route,” he said.

Marvin feels placing the financial burden on the TRIC workforce would be unfair. He recalls the added stress of the commute and its toll on his life, saying it became unsustainable and was why he switched jobs. This approach would ease the financial strain on commuters while ensuring that the companies investing in our community actively contribute to its growth and sustainability. Marvin’s hesitations were echoed by community members who spoke at the committee hearing.

“I would like to respectfully debunk some of the things said by Mayor Lawson,” said Matthew Wilkie, who spoke in opposition at the hearing. “Unless there is a bill amendment that says that these companies [Tesla, Panasonic, Switch, etc.] are going to be paying for it, we are going to be paying for it at the end of the day.”

Olivia Tanager, the director of the Sierra Club’s Toiyabe chapter, matched those objections to the toll road.

“I know that we heard today that businesses are perhaps going to give people a pass to pay for the toll roads, and wouldn’t it be great if instead, they just paid into a fund that went towards public transportation instead?” Tanager asked.

Though the toll road corridor will include a wildlife crossing for the mule deer, the environmental impact of another toll road could manifest in future congestion, especially with what Lawson said could be the addition of 50,000 jobs. As more people move to the area for what Lawson touts as the new Comstock Lode, city planners, and RTC must be creative about building transportation infrastructure to avoid the bust cycle familiar with economic booms.

“There is a feasibility study in progress to look at potential commuter rail solutions from Reno/Sparks to TRIC,” said Josh MacEachern with RTC.

MacEachern pointed to AB256 that has been introduced in the Nevada Legislature that would create a task force to study light rail solutions in Clark and Washoe counties. Through increased bus ridership, Vanpool, Smart Trips, and improvements to pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, MacEachern said RTC already significantly reduces congestion inside the valley and is hopeful to see where the research around rail goes in the next few years. Local groups have identified light rail as a climate-friendly approach to solving many problems in Northern Nevada, as reported by This is Reno.

“While a toll road has the potential to make a meaningful difference in reducing congestion,” said Marvin, “Its success hinges on careful planning, fair pricing, and a clear commitment to using the funds for the betterment of our roads and community.”

Update at 11:47 a.m. on 3/3/25: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated this project was in the feasibility stage. It is not at that stage yet, and the story has been updated for accuracy.