Part of Roop Street to close for up to three months for construction

A six-block portion of Carson City's Roop Street will be closed for up to three months starting Tuesday as construction crews begin to widen the heavily used north-south arterial.

From Winnie Lane to Beverly Drive, North Roop Street will be closed for the duration of the $1.8 million project, which city officials expect to wrap up by mid-September.

Detours will redirect Roop Street traffic to Carson Street - northbound traffic will be detoured at Long Street and southbound traffic will be detoured at Winnie Lane.

Internal traffic, for those heading to someplace along Roop Street, can access the area from Long Street, and there will be ways to get to destinations such as Lone Mountain Cemetery and the Carson City Senior Center.

"Those places will be accessible," said Carson City Construction Manager John Benzing.

The project will expand Roop Street from two lanes to four. It will include curbs and gutters, sidewalks and street lighting.

The city plans to widen the entire length of Roop Street and extend North Stewart Street to ease Carson City traffic congestion.

A scheduled 2010 completion of the Carson Freeway is expected to take the bulk of commuter traffic off local streets, but city transportation officials say an increasing population still necessitates the widening work.

The widening of Roop Street from Winnie Lane south to Fifth Street will be done in three phases, as the city's transportation budget allows, and may take up to 15 years.