Feds Asked to Expand Probe of Nevada Highway Project

A congressional panel wants U.S. transportation inspectors to expand their investigation in Nevada into the safety of a $600 million highway bypass project being built between Reno and Carson City.

The Department of Transportation’s inspector general launched a probe of one bridge in the project in January at the request of the House Transportation Committee after an ex-construction worker complained he’d been ordered to do substandard concrete work to save money.

Committee spokesman Jim Berard told The Associated Press that Chairman Jim Oberstar of Minnesota is asking DOT to widen the probe to include a second bridge where cracks in the concrete have been discovered up to 30 feet long.

The Reno Gazette-Journal first reported that repairing the cracks could cost the state nearly $1 million.