South Carson Street project construction to start in March

About 40 people turned out to hear details on the upcoming South Carson Street project at a public meeting held by Carson City Public Works on Thursday.

Dan Stucky, city engineer, and Dan LeBlanc and Emma Crossman, project lead and project manager with Sierra Nevada Construction Inc., the contractor, outlined the timeline for the city’s $20 million project to reduce lanes, add a multi-use path, and install a roundabout at Stewart Street.

Surveying will start in February with construction beginning in March. The project is divided into three zones: Carson Street north of Stewart Street, the roundabout at Stewart Street, and south from Fairview Drive to Appion Way. Work between the zones will overlap.

Construction will start with extensive utility work. Roughly $3.5 million of the project is going to stormwater drainage. Phase one includes that work as well as the frontage road and concrete on the west side. That phase is expected to be from March to July.

The second phase, expected to last from May to December, will include installing both the multi-use path along the east side of much of the road and the roundabout at Stewart Street.

The road will be repaved in the final phase, from July to December. The contractor will likely return in spring 2021 to do most of the landscaping.

Building the roundabout is expected to take about eight weeks, divided into constructing the roundabout then adding the Stewart Street leg. The project’s only second-shift work will take place then.

During that time, there will be detours. Cars traveling north on Carson Street will take Stewart Street while the roundabout is being built and will use the roundabout while the Stewart Street section is being installed.

Vehicles traveling south will turn at 5th Street, either right to Curry Street to Rhodes Street or left to Roop Street to Fairview Drive to get back on Carson Street.

Southbound traffic will be able to continue on Carson Street between 5th Street and Stewart Street to go to the Carson Mall or other businesses located on those blocks.

“We will at all times maintain business access,” said Crossman.

During road paving, traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction with a center turn lane in the area being worked on.

There was a question and answer period, which included concerns voiced before: will Carson Street be able to handle traffic fueled by growth and is the roundabout necessary?

Stucky said the roundabout has been planned for about 15 years and is safer, less costly solution than a traffic signal.

“It will still function well in 2040,” based on traffic projections, said Stucky.

The city is committed to complete streets, he said, which provide access for all modes of traffic.

“The Board of Supervisors had a vision that when we took control the street we would have a welcoming corridor,” Stucky said.

The city plans to keep residents up to date on the project online at carsonproud.com, where there is background on it with a live construction map once work starts. The city also pushes out information on all its social media, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

People can get live text updates on detours, lane closures, and other information by texting 31996, and the construction hotline is 775-283-4784.