Motorists might glance at the handsome, well-kept home and grounds on the northwest corner of Pyramid and McCarran with scarcely a passing thought as they hurry on their way.

City officials and those who plan our roadways see a barrier to progress.

That's why there are plans afoot that could mean demolishing or moving this home. That's no small matter to the woman who lives there.

he land here has been home to Norma Lagomarsino for almost all of her 84 years. Once part of her father's ranch, It's given pieces of itself to the demands of growth before first losing some from the east side when Pyramid Way was widened years ago. Then more to the south as McCarran Boulevard was built.

Now local governments may want it all.

It started with a proposal for a continuous right hand turn--needed the staff at the RTC say-- to ease congestion. But as RTC board member and Reno City Councilman Dwight Dortch observed that would only create congestion elsewhere. So, the idea grew from there to talk of a full interchange with bridge or underpass.

That may or may not happen, but the RTC says the intersection is a growing problem.

"It's our third busiest intersection," says RTC Chairman Dave Aiazzi.

I"d like to see one of them come out and pitch a tent in my front yard for a week and see for themselves," says Lagomarsino who says she's asked if anyone making the decisions drives through the intersection on any regular basis.

In any case, there may be little room in any of the RTC's planning for Lagomarsino and her home. And the home itself is a piece of local history. In fact, it's has been moved to make way for the growth before.

Built in 1906, it spent its first half century at West and Elm in Reno. Norma and her husband moved it here when it was in the way of expansion of St. Mary's Hospital.

Now it could be torn down. In fact, Sparks Mayor Gino Martini was recently told a Reno audience that's what should happen, a remark that angers Lagomarsino. "I have a transcript of his remarks," she says. "He can't deny he said it." In fact, the mayor has acknowledged the remark.

The RTC has floated moving the house to an equal location as an alternative to destroying it.. Lagomarsino says either would be difficult.

"At my age if you pick me up and put me down some place, regardless of where they put me won't be home. How can I leave everything I've known all these years. It will never be the same."

The RTC Board voted Friday to remove federal dollars from the project. That has the potential of putting it on the fast track, but Aiazzi says today's vote doesn't mean the Commission is ready to force the issue.

"None of this is a done deal," he says adding the board wants to take its time, study the alternatives and talk with residents.

When they do they'll be talking with more than just Lagomarsino. Depending on which design they pick, they could be impacting as many as 40 to 90 of her neighbors as well.

Meanwhile Lagomarsino is determined, but fatalistic. "They have eminent domain," she says. "That's what we don't have. We can't say no and mean it."