As expected, the first day of school combined with a water main project on Saliman Road across from Carson High caused its share of difficulty, but everyone involved generally cooperated to make the situation as workable as possible.
That was the report from Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong. There was one student pedestrian who was hit by a vehicle on Saliman after school let out at approximately 2:15 p.m., but Furlong said that accident had nothing to do with the construction going on. On Tuesday evening, he said he had no update on how the student was doing.
“The first day went OK,” Furlong said. “There was an awful lot of traffic. We expected that.”
Furlong did say “the drivers were generally very, very cooperative.”
He also said the students were also cooperative as has been the construction crew. “I know the construction people are working as efficiently as possible.”
Construction began on Monday for the obvious reason that it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a holiday, so Carson High wasn’t in session. But construction on Saliman is expected to last at least through the rest of the week.
Furlong said the more cooperative everyone is, the more that helps with the construction. The most obvious way to help with the construction is for as many people to avoid the area completely for the rest of the week.
Furlong said the goal is for his department to provide at least as much staffing to the area as it provided on Tuesday. But Furlong said no matter what time of the day people travel on Saliman they should expect “considerable traffic.”
The worst times to travel on Saliman this week are obviously when school begins (about 7:15 to 7:40 a.m., school begins at 7:40), when students are let out for lunch (about 11 to 11:30 a.m.) and when school lets out (about 2 to 2:30 p.m.).
But Furlong said drivers should avoid the area entirely if possible.
“They should take an alternative route other than to go on Saliman,” he said.
The $2 million water main project is to run east-west through Mills Park to Roop Street and improve the Carson City water system, eventually linking lines all the way to the Quill water treatment facility on the city’s west side.