Carson City street work set to begin

A couple Carson City road projects start up in the next few weeks, including the $1 million South Carson Street maintenance work that’s part of a deal to transfer the road to the city next year.

Sierra Nevada Construction, Inc. is doing the South Carson Street maintenance project from Fairview Drive south to U.S. 50 for the Nevada Department of Transportation.

Once the freeway bypass is complete, NDOT is handing over that stretch of the road as well as $5.1 million to Carson City, which is going to conduct its own repaving project.

The initial, $75,000 planning study for that project was awarded to Kimley-Horn, a national consultant with a Reno office, by the Carson Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Wednesday.

The study will look at traffic volume and patterns prior to a redesign of the road, which could eventually narrow it to two lanes in each direction with a middle turn lane.

The study will cover Carson Street from 5th Street to the intersection of U.S. 50.

The project to be funded in part by the $5.1 million payment from NDOT only applies to the stretch from Fairview to U.S. 50.

But, Patrick Pittenger, Carson City transportation manager, said planning needs to include the gap of road between Fairview and the end of the downtown corridor construction project, which ends at 5th Street.

Sierra Nevada Construction is also soon starting work on a 500-foot stretch of Airport Road south of U.S. 50.

The Regional Transportation Commission on Wednesday awarded the company a contract not to exceed $226,520 to repave the road using a technique in which existing asphalt and underlying dirt are pulverized, compacted and then covered with five inches of new asphalt, said Pittenger.

The RTC also awarded Cruz Construction, Inc. a contract not to exceed $319,182.27 to reconstruct Appion Way from Bigelow Drive to California Drive.

The original plan was to repave Appion to Snyder Avenue, but a proposed apartment complex is delaying that block and the scope of the project was pushed east to Bigelow instead.

The RTC authorized an amendment to an agreement with NDOT to implement signal modifications, including new traffic signal software, and construct sidewalk and curb ramp improvements at the intersections of North Carson Street and Winnie Lane and North Roop Street and East Robinson Street.

A contract to operate the Jump Around Carson fixed route and paratransit services was awarded for three years, through September 30, 2019, to MV Transportation, Inc., the current operator.

Four bids were received for the contract and MV was the lowest bidder and highest scored.

Rudy Malfabon, NDOT director, gave a presentation on NDOT’s fiscal year 2017 work program in the CAMPO area.

He said work in and around Carson City will include 5 miles of drainage improvements, installation of dynamic messaging signs and flush seal on U.S. 50 going to Lake Tahoe; 1.02 miles of micro-surface on Synder Avenue; and two buses for JAC.

Malfabon also said paving will take place over the next few weekends on U.S. Interstate 580 coming into Carson City.

NDOT will lower the water line from Marlette Lake to Virginia City probably in September, then do final paving and striping after that.