South Carson Street to six lanes this summer

By the end of this summer, traffic along South Carson Street will be traveling in six lanes.

The Nevada Department of Transportation will begin a $2.2 million overlay of South Carson from Stewart Street south to the Douglas County Line at the beginning of June.

The project is touted as a simple solution that could help ease Carson's chronic traffic congestion. About 45,000 cars travel South Carson Street daily, up from 37,000 in 1991, said NDOT spokesman Scott Magruder.

The state plans to add a third southbound lane from Fairview Drive to Highway 50 East and an extra northbound lane from the Highway 50 interchange to Stewart Street.

The lane addition will require slight modification of some of the road's concrete barrier, and bicyclists will no longer have a dedicated shoulder on which to ride.

The expansion, which will encompass the existing roadway and shoulder, will allow traffic to flow more freely on a street which in certain areas gets an "F" for its level of service to motorists.

In transportation lingo, "A" is free flowing traffic. The worst level of service, "F," is backed up or standstill traffic -- like the Winnie Lane/Carson Street intersection at 5 p.m.

Koontz Lane boasts the lowest service level, and with the expansion, will improve to a service level C -- a much more free flowing level of traffic, Magruder said.

Clearview Drive is expected to reach service level B, similar to traffic flows at Carson Street and College Parkway.

"This will help relieve the traffic congestion not only now, but in future years, especially with the Carson freeway 10 years from completion," Magruder said.

Bicyclists will not be prohibited on the road, Magruder said, but will be encouraged to ride instead on Silver Sage Drive.

The contractor, who will be selected April 18, will have 66 working days to finish the project. Most of the road work will be completed at night.