The Lyon County Commission on Thursday approved county manager Jeff Page to sign a letter to the Nevada Department of Transportation supporting the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of U.S. 50 and Traditions Parkway in Dayton mitigating safety concerns as development continues.
The Traditions master planned community, first presented in Lyon County about 15 years ago, with a corridor study completed in 2007, called for a signalized intersection at Traditions Parkway and the U.S. 50. Page said for the first time in his career as county manager, a developer is coming forward with an offer to pay for the signal along the highway.
Traffic engineer Paul Solaegui said he conducted traffic studies in 2008 and found a signal would be an ideal engineering solution and he had designed the signal, but the economy changed that year. The project stalled, and subsequent studies have been conducted through 2019 that showed the signal was still necessary, he said.
The letter addresses the road infrastructure that bridges more than 500 planned homes for the Traditions development to more than 600 existing homes in the Sutro development that are soon to be completed. Commercial development also is scheduled in the next year, according to the document.
NDOT has presented three alternatives at a series of town hall meetings, the most recent of which took place in May this year. The department’s preferred choice is the parkway concept that was favored and determined to cost about $50 million to widen the roadway by three lanes in each direction to accommodate more traffic from Pine Cone to east of Six Mile Canyon Road/Fort Churchill Road at a speed limit of 45 mph. This also means preserving two lanes in each direction east of Fort Churchill to Neigh Road with 60 mph limits. Officials in May shared daily traffic on the U.S. 50 traveling through Dayton went up from 18,500 cars in 2014 to 21,000 in 2020.
Solaegui said it could take about 10 years, so a traffic signal at this intersection seemed like the “quickest solution.”
“We’ve gone to the Dayton Regional Advisory Committee and asked for their support, and I’ve made a similar presentation and they were in support of this concept,” he said to the commissioners.
Commissioner Dave Hockaday said he appreciated the initiative to address one of Dayton’s more critical safety issues.
“It is something new to have a developer say, ‘We’re actually going to pay for this,’ he said. “I’m not quite sure why feet are being (dragged).”
Commissioner Wes Henderson, who requested the item, said he hoped sending the letter would “set the bar” for other developers to partner with the county on similar initiatives.
“I hope we’ll have other developers stand up and help alleviate the problems,” he said.
The motion was passed 4-0 with Commissioner Ken Gray absent.
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