A cone in the median north of the Nye Lane and North Carson Street crosswalk on March 13, 2025. A streetlight is being installed in the median to better illuminate the crosswalk where 14-year-old Lexi Rodriguez died Jan. 28, 2024, after being struck by a vehicle.
Photo by Scott Neuffer.
The Carson City Regional Transportation Commission is pursuing several projects related to pedestrian and vulnerable road user safety, though much will depend on procuring funds.
Wednesday, RTC members voted unanimously to approve applications for federal Highway Safety Improvement Program funds, asking for just over $2 million that would require a total local match of $100,218. The applications will be sent to the Nevada Department of Transportation that administers the program.
“CAMPO’s recently completed Local Road Safety Plan (LRSP) in April of 2024 has allowed Carson City to apply for these potential HSIP projects,” said Kelly Norman, senior transportation planner for the city.
That plan details priority intersections and road segments not just in Carson City, but in western Lyon County and northern Douglas County.
The HSIP funds pursued by Carson would be used for three projects, which RTC members prioritized in case funding is limited. The top priority project includes a request for $308,750 for the Curry Street Complete Streets Project, with a 5 percent local match of $16,250. HSIP funds would be used to add street lighting and “relocate and/or bury overhead utilities as part of the existing Curry project,” according to a staff report.
“Street lighting was not originally included in the scope of the project but is considered a FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) proven safety counter measure and included as part of the LRSP,” states the report.
Stretching between Rhodes Street and the U.S. Forest Service parcel to the north, the entire Curry Street project was previously estimated to cost about $4.68 million, with $2.6 million of that coming from federal congressional spending. RTC members felt since it was already funded, the project should be the first on the list for HSIP funding.
The second project, the Saliman Road School Routes Improvement Project, now has an HSIP request for $689,034, with a 5 percent local match of $36,265.
“HSIP funding for the Saliman Road project will fund radar feedback signs, crosswalk lighting, raised medians, signal upgrades, ADA improvements and sidewalk widening to improve safety and connectivity around Saliman Road,” Norman said, “which includes three schools: Carson High School, Fremont and Seeliger elementary schools. The tasks within this project have been prioritized both in the Local Road Safety Plan and the Carson City Safe Routes to School Master Plan.”
The third project entails a request of $906,342, with a 5 percent local match of $47,703. It’s called the College Parkway and Fairview Drive Pedestrian Safey project. RTC members reviewed preliminary design concepts for this project aimed at College Parkway and Imperial Way, College Parkway and Northgate Lane, College Parkway and Airport Road, Fairview Drive and Gordon Street, Fairview Drive and Desatoya Drive, and Fairview Drive and Edmonds Drive.
All six locations would receive new signage, reflective striping and updated yield bars where motorists would be expected to stop for pedestrians and other vulnerable road users like cyclists and wheelchair-bound individuals. Pedestrian refuge islands would be used for five locations, potentially affecting some existing turn lanes at the Imperial Way, Northgate Lane and Gordon Street intersections.
However, RTC members suggested moving a pedestrian island to the south end of the Gordon intersection to avoid disrupting an existing route. They also suggested bigger yield signs with greater visibility.
“I drove them all today, and I thought overall you guys did a good job on these,” RTC member Gregory Novak told staff. “Kind of echoing what the mayor said, do we have any process for public input? Because this is going to affect a lot of people. Even though it’s relatively minor, it’s a surprise.”
In developing the College and Fairview project, the city determined the intersections had a high risk of crashes involving pedestrians and vulnerable road users. In April 2024, the Appeal published the results of an investigation into pedestrian deaths in Carson City, revealing 19 such deaths since 2013. That total included a 2016 fatality at Fairview and Gordon and a 2022 death on College Parkway near Imperial Way.
Mayor Lori Bagwell, who chairs RTC, emphasized the importance of saving pedestrian lives but didn’t want to inadvertently back up traffic in other areas. She said she didn’t want to transfer problems from one intersection to another.
The design concepts are preliminary at this point.
“The anticipated schedule, based upon an assumption that we use consultant design and that the Highway Safety Improvement Program application is approved and we’re successful in getting that funding, we’re looking at a schedule of 60 percent design in November, 90 percent in February of (2026), plans complete in May of (2026), with construction in maybe spring of 2027, maybe a little sooner than that depending on how that all falls,” said Casey Sylvester, transportation/traffic engineer for the city.
One pedestrian safety item near completion is new lighting for the crosswalk at Nye Lane and North Carson Street, where a young pedestrian was killed in early 2024.
“If it’s not installed already, it will soon be installed… a new streetlight in the median of North Carson Street and Nye Lane,” Transportation Manager Chris Martinovich said Wednesday. “We’ve got that agreement with NV Energy in place, and any day now, there will be a new median streetlight at that location at that crosswalk to highlight that at night… We continue to make progress on safety fronts across Carson City tonight.”