Carson City seeks public input on South Carson Street corridor at Mar. 1 meeting

A public meeting for residents, property owners and businesses along the South Carson Street corridor between Fifth and Roland streets is scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Mar. 1 inside the Sierra Room at the Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William Street in Carson City.

This will be the second public meeting held on the topic of a future construction project along the South Carson Street Corridor, eventually encompassing the entire stretch from Fifth Street to Roland Street, just north of the Interstate 580 junction with U.S. Highway 50 West and South Carson Street.

The very first meeting took place back in September 2016, Carson City Transportation Manager Patrick Pittenger said Friday.

The focus of Wednesday's meeting will be on the construction of the southern half of the corridor project, stretching from the South Carson Street intersection with Fairview Drive to Roland Street, he said.

"Invitations to the public meeting were sent for the area from Fifth Street to Fairview, but that area will not be part of the advisory workgroup at this time, as the schedule and funding for that portion has yet to be finalized," Pittenger said. "That area received more detailed information because not only do we want to invite them to this meeting, we are soliciting interest in forming a South Carson Street Advisory Working Group, which will continue to provide input as we move into design.

Currently, funding has been identified for the southern portion of the corridor, he said, so that is why the Wednesday meeting will focus on the construction of the project from Fairview to Roland.

"That is the area for which we have funding identified and must have a project under construction by 2019," Pittenger said.

But the entire study area includes the Fifth Street portion to Fairview as well, he said.

The Municipality of Carson City, he said, has a written agreement with the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) to begin construction on the portion of Carson Street south of Fairview no later than 2019.

NDOT provided $5.1 million dollars to address pavement conditions along the corridor as part of the freeway agreement that transferred South Carson Street from the state to the city, Pittenger said.

This money will go toward the "Complete Streets" corridor project along with funds expected from the one-eighth cent sales tax increased passed by the Carson City Board of Supervisors in 2014 for capital projects, he said, as well as city utility funds (as needed), and any grant funding the city qualifies for.

In fact, Pittenger announced that the Carson City Regional Transportation Commission was recently awarded $750,000 in grant money it had applied for through the federal Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP).

"The funds are intended to be used for bicycle and pedestrian-related elements of the overall project and require only a five percent local match," he said. “We are very pleased that the funds were awarded while this important project is being planned and we look forward to improving the roadway when freeway opens to U.S. 50 west.”

Pittenger said the goal of the second public meeting is to gather input from attendees on alternative cross-section designs and to build an advisory work group that will likely meeting on a quarterly basis.

Two basic alternative concepts of what the "Complete Streets" corridor project may look like will be presented Wednesday, Pittenger said.

Cross-section design A features two lanes of travel in each direction (north and south) with a center turn lane, a combination bike and walking path on the east side, as well as a sidewalk and bicycle lane on the west side of South Carson Street.

Cross section B also features two lanes of travel in each direction (north and south), but with a landscaped center divider instead of a center turn lane along with sidewalks and bicycle lanes on both sides of Carson Street.

Pittenger stressed that although preliminary designs call for fewer travel lanes along the South Carson Street corridor, traffic congestion is not expected to worsen with the new I-580 freeway nearing completion at the Spooner junction.

"Traffic volumes on South Carson Street are expected to decrease dramatically after the freeway opens," he said.