Carson City supervisors OK grant application request to study shrinking Carson Street lanes
Submitted by editor on Thu, 08/19/2010 - 11:27am
Carson City leaders agreed this morning to apply for a $240,000 HUD grant that would help in preliminary design work for narrowing Carson Street between John and Stewart streets from four to two lanes.
If the city were to get the grant, it would have to kick down about $60,000 in matching grants which would come from the city's redevelopment agency and the regional transportation commission. Money for the matching grants would be available because it has already been set aside in their budgets.
A ball park figure on the reconstruction of Carson Street in a road narrowing scenario, which was studied and recommended in the Vision 2006 report, had the cost estimated then at around $12 million.
Because the city now owns Carson Street after the Nevada Department of Transportation built the freeway project, the city and not the state would be responsible for coming up with the money to pay for any road narrowing project. NDOT has said it would finish the freeway project by between 2014 and 2016. So any major construction project on Carson Street could be between that time frame or after.
The discussion brought up a number residents who wondered whether given the nature of the state and local economy, if narrowing the road would be economically prudent. Others said they supported the Vision 2006 plan because it would provide for better sidewalks for pedestrians and would make the congested street bicycle-friendly.
Today's decision by the board is to move forward in the planning and engineering study end of a narrowing project design and it does not in any way mean that the road will be narrowed.
The narrowing of Carson Street would facilitate the capital improvement program for downtown Carson City, and would help implement the goals and policies of the Carson City Master Plan, said Patrick Pittenger, the city's transportation manager.
A 20 percent match is required for this grant, which will be funded jointly through the Carson City Redevelopment Authority and the Carson City Regional Transportation Commission. That amounts to about $60,000 and both have already planned for the match in their budgets, Supervisor Shelly Aldean said.
The board vote was 4-1, with Supervisor Pete Livermore dissenting.
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