Overnight I-80 lane closures to affect Fernley commuters starting Sept. 7

If you drive between Fernley and Sparks on Interstate 80, be ready for overnight delays starting next week.

The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) will begin closing lanes between Vista Boulevard and USA Parkway on Sept. 7. The closures, which are expected to continue through December, are part of early work on a long-planned project to widen the busy corridor.

Westbound lanes will be reduced from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., while eastbound lanes will close from 7:30 p.m. to 4 a.m. Crews will shift the closures to different two-mile sections of the freeway as work progresses.

NDOT says the overnight schedule is meant to ease impacts on the nearly 50,000 drivers who use I-80 daily, especially commuters to and from the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center. Still, the agency is urging motorists to allow extra time and be prepared for possible delays.

The immediate work has two purposes: engineers will drill and survey the slopes and rock formations along the highway to guide design for the widening project, which could begin as soon as 2027. At the same time, NDOT crews will be clearing roadside litter.

Traffic through this stretch of I-80 has increased more than 70 percent in the past decade, making the widening project one of NDOT’s top safety priorities. Officials estimate that expanding the freeway could reduce crashes by about 20 percent.

Drivers can find real-time updates on NDOT’s social media channels @nevadadot, including the Reno-specific account @nevadadotreno on X.