E. William Street Complete Streets Project enters design phase following community survey
Following community input, the E. William Street Complete Streets project is entering its design phase.
The newest Complete Streets project comes on the heels of the Carson Street Project, which saw the transformation of the Downtown and South Carson Street areas with additional landscaping, pathing, traffic devices, and more.
The E. William Street project begins at North Carson Street and continues east to the interchange of I-580, which is approximately 1.5 miles in total.
The project is slated to cost around $21.3 million, which will be split between city funds as well as through utilizing a $9.3 million RAISE grant.
According to a community survey, participants used words such as “unattractive,” “congested,” “busy,” “unsafe,” and “dangerous,” to describe E. William as it stands today.
When asked which words they’d like to describe a transformed E. William Street, participants used words such as “beautiful,” “friendly,” “accessible,” “inviting,” and “safe” as what they would hope E. William Street to become.
Residents voted almost equally on wanting safety improvements, traffic operations, beautification and landscaping, and bike and pedestrian enhancements when asked which was the priority.
The winner of safety priorities was improved sight distance, followed by additional crosswalks and reduced speed.
Residents could see narrower lanes, medians, and additional crosswalks in E. William Street’s future in response.
Participants voted that a reduction in congestion was the most sought after improvement to traffic operations, followed by access improvements, traffic signal modifications, bike paths, and additional street parking coming in last.
As far as beautification, most residents stated that adding trees and bushes was most important, followed by decorative lighting, public art, public benches, and decorative bike racks coming in last.
Most participants stated they would like to see a bike path separated from the travel lane as the priority for bike and pedestrian improvements, followed by a multiuse path, connectivity of bike and pedestrian paths, with wider sidewalks coming in last.
According to Darren Anderson, Carson City Public Works Senior Project Manager, the earliest construction would begin would be spring of 2023, who provided answers to Frequently Asked Questions regarding the project.
Following the completion of the E. William Street corridor, residents could see the North Carson Street corridor tackled next.