Carson City finalizing 2020 road projects

Carson City is finalizing plans for its major road projects in the 2020 fiscal year.

The priorities are work on Roop Street, Saliman Road and Winnie Lane, all depending on how far roughly $3 million in funding can be stretched.

The projects will be concentrated in central Carson City in the district 2 area bordered by Hot Springs Road, I-580, and Colorado and Carson streets. The city now focuses projects on one of five districts each year to avoid the additional costs associated with work scattered throughout town.

“Before we had to pay mobilization costs of projects. Moving trucks to north Carson, $10,000, moving them to south Carson, $10,000,” Lucia Maloney, transportation manager, told a meeting of the Transportation Resource Advisory Forum for Carson City on Monday.

At least 80 percent of the budget is reserved for projects in a single district and as much as 20 percent is available for needed work in other areas of the city.

The city has ranked eight projects for central Carson City. The first priority is a surface treatment on Roop Street, from Northridge Drive to Washington Street. Ranked second is a surface treatment on Saliman Road, from Long Street to Fairview Drive. Third is Winnie Lane between Carson and Roop streets. Fourth is Long Street between Roop Street and Russel Way and the fifth project is Russel Way between Northridge Drive and William Street.

The next two proposed projects are on Northridge Drive, the first one between Roop Street and Jarbidge Court and the second from Jarbidge Court to Southcrest Road, and the final one is Telegraph Street between Carson and Plaza streets.

Public Works is still determining the type of treatments for some of the projects and has yet to do cost estimates so it’s unknown how much work can be funded.

The next public step is to take it the Regional Transportation Commission.

TRAFCC, the citizens advisory group assembled before the 2016 election, met for the first time in a year to get updates on the South Carson Street project, 2019 road projects, and plans for 2020.

Among the concerns raised by members was the status of Curry and Cochise streets and whether they could handle the traffic from new development planned on Cochise Street and the upcoming South Carson Street project, which will likely send more drivers to Curry Street as an alternative route.

Curry Street “will become a major thoroughfare and it’s not up to it,” said Stan Jones, one of about a dozen TRAFCC members at the meeting.