Clearing the South Carson gridlock

Drivers not intimately familiar with Carson City realize one thing as soon as they venture off Carson Street: You can't get there from here.

The traffic patterns in this town are a headache left over from the days when developers dictated where streets started and where they ended.

While much has been done in recent years to keep traffic moving - and give alternatives to Carson Street wherever possible - more needs to be done.

That's why we appreciate the attention Supervisor Richard Staub has given to a couple of bottlenecks in South Carson - Curry Street and Hillview Drive.

The Emerson-Roop-Silver Sage connection is the closest thing to a north-south through route between Carson Street and Edmonds Drive. But it has become as congested as Carson Street, and on some days it's worse.

Saliman Road/Hillview Drive could provide an alternative, except for the missing block between Koontz Lane and Valley View Drive.

Staub resurrected the idea of connecting that block, and it has met vehement opposition from residents. Who can blame them? We'd all like to have less traffic in our neighborhoods.

But that's the point. As traffic increases along the busiest streets, it begins pushing into more neighborhoods. Keeping that block closed has meant worse problems in the surrounding neighborhood.

With the southern half of the bypass - the more important half, we point out one again - still many years away, the city's Regional Transportation Commission needs to find as many ways as possible to direct traffic in a way that makes sense. This is one of them.

Another is filling in the Curry Street gap to Clearview Drive, a project to start later this summer.

We can all look forward to the day the bypass will help move traffic through town, but there's no reason to put off the improvements that can be made now.