Major road projects have timetables

Work to improve Saliman Road from Highway 50 East to Fairview Drive is scheduled to begin next month.

The pavement will be improved and the crosswalk between Carson High School and Mills Park enhanced so students have added safety, said Patrick Pittenger, the city's transportation manager.

An island will be placed in the center of Saliman between the school and park that requires pedestrians to face oncoming traffic through its design. Called a "Danish Offset," the island will have a path with a 90-degree angle that forces people walking across it to be pointed toward any cars coming in their direction, Pittenger said.

Traffic on Saliman will be reduced to two lanes in the work sections. The project will begin at Highway 50 East and progress south to Fairview.

Work should be complete this fall.

The widening of Fairview Drive to accommodate future freeway traffic should begin this fall. Fairview will be four-lanes wide when the project is completed in summer 2008 - well before the October 2008 deadline imposed by Nevada Department of Transportation, said Andrew Burnham, the city's public works director.

Utility companies serving the area are relocating power, gas, telephone and other service connections, and the city is moving water, sewer and reclaimed water lines to accommodate the freeway project and its storm-drain system, Burnham said.

Fairview will carry traffic from the freeway to Carson Street until the entire freeway is completed. The project's final section will connect the freeway at Fairview to Highway 395 south at the base of Spooner Summit.

The Carson City freeway from Highway 50 East to Fairview Drive will cost the state $50 million to $60 million. That section is expected to require about two years to build, NDOT has estimated.

Construction of this section of the freeway is expected to go out to bid May 31, Burnham said.

The local road projects were approved Monday during the Regional Transportation Commission meeting.

• Contact reporter Terri Harber at tharber @nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 215.