ADA-compliant sidewalk project near key Carson City facilities approved

A disability-friendly sidewalk project near key Carson City facilities on East Long Street won unanimous approval from the Regional Transportation Commission on Wednesday.

The low bid of $152,391, plus a contingency amount up to $15,239, secured RTC approval. The contract was awarded for work from Roop Street to Molly Drive on the north and south sides in a pedestrian-improvement project near the Senior Center and the Health and Human Services Department.

The low bidder was V & C Construction. The project will be funded by money from a Community Development Block Grant and the Federal Transportation Administration, which means no Carson City tax dollars will be used.

Transportation Manager Patrick Pittenger said the project will make improvements that are compliant with the American Disabilities Act (ADA), and some fiber optics connections to the health and senior facilities are envisioned.

Pittenger also told RTC members that he expects federal Transportation Alternatives funding will be available for the Safe Routes to Schools initiative, with $240,000 in each of two fiscal years, adding that it would prove helpful to the city.

Among the first projects to be tackled, he said, will be along William Street from the freeway to Saliman Road at a cost of a bit more than $200,000. He expects to have an update at the next RTC meeting.

Before the RTC session, the Carson-Area Metropolitan Planning Organization held a Wednesday meeting in the same Community Center room and learned from Pittenger that CAMPO’s fiscal year 2013-14 budget will be about $486,000. The CAMPO group handles transport issues for the metro area that includes Carson City and nearby parts of Douglas and Lyon counties.

Pittenger told CAMPO, which has RTC members on it along with those from the other jurisdictions, that the federal portion of that budget will be $473,000, which is 50 percent higher than this fiscal year. But he said the match required by the local jurisdictions, now 5 percent, went down from $30,500 currently to $29,900 in fiscal year 2013-14.

The biggest part of the budget will be for an ADA transition plan to help with compliance at a cost of $150,00, he said.