Ask Joe: Why no "Welcome to Nevada" sign at Bordertown?
From the Ask Joe file, some of our viewers have noticed something missing when they're crossing into Nevada from California on U.S. 395.
Steve is one of them. He wrote in to ask if NDOT is ever going to install a new "Welcome to Nevada" sign up at Bordertown for people entering the state from California?
There used to be a welcome sign as you drove into the state there but it is gone.
Here's what I found out:
Last year NDOT set out to replace all the "Welcome to Nevada" signs, the ones showing a lone prospector with new versions which were designed by Nevada high school students.
Most of those have been installed but in spots like Bordertown NDOT is designing what it calls gateway monuments like this to welcome people into the state. There will be six of the gateway monuments. Here in the North, they'll be installed at Bordertown, Topaz Lake and Crystal Bay up at Lake Tahoe.
Meg Ragonese at NDOT says it takes a little longer to make those but they should be installed within the next year and a half and Ragonese says Bordertown will be one of first ones to be installed.
If you're wondering, the cost to create and install each of these new monuments is just under $400,000 apiece. Spanish Springs Construction will be doing the installation and depending on the weather that new monument at Bordertown could be up early next year.
Anyway, that's the explanation as to why there are welcome signs at some locations but not others. It's an ongoing project but it is nearing completion.
