Story County directs staff to develop reimbursement contract with Tesla to extend I‑80 Patrick westbound on‑ramp

County Manager Austin Osborne introduced a proposal from Tesla and partners to accelerate safety and traffic improvements at the I‑80 Patrick interchange. Tesla representatives described a plan to lengthen the westbound on‑ramp — increasing the available acceleration distance from roughly 473 feet to about 2,210 feet — to allow vehicles, including heavy trucks, to reach higher speeds before merging and reduce the afternoon westbound bottleneck.

Chris Riley (Tesla) said Kimley‑Horn modeling and Granite Construction input suggested the ramp extension could materially improve flow in the 3–7 p.m. westbound peak and that construction could take roughly 50 days with targeted traffic control and overnight work to limit disruption. "We think we could have this open this summer," Riley told the board, adding Tesla teams would serve as owner’s representatives and partner on construction oversight.

Brian Bulls, Tesla director of facilities for Nevada, framed the project as a regional solution and said data indicates the Patrick on‑ramp is a primary cause of the long westbound backups. County staff and Tesla said NDOT supports facilitation and that proposed work would occur in NDOT right‑of‑way; no additional county right‑of‑way acquisition was anticipated.

After public comment (including a repeat of the gondola pitch from Uheart Justin), Vice Chair Mitchell moved to direct county staff to develop a private infrastructure improvement project contract between Story County and Tesla, with structured cost reimbursement and the intention to return a draft contract to the board for future consideration. The motion passed unanimously.