Panel hears updates on Carson City road projects

The citizens panel advising Carson City on streets maintenance met on Tuesday in the second of now quarterly meetings.

Patrick Pittenger, transportation manager, presented an update on current and future road projects, including more details on a list of pavement preservation projects, to the Transportation Resource Advisory Forum For Carson City (TRAFCC).

Five of the road projects planned for the upcoming fiscal year will be micro seal work, a longer lasting solution that requires the city to do sidewalk upgrades to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which can be costly.

That list of projects totaling an estimated $628,697 includes College Parkway from Carson Street to Ormsby Boulevard and Carson River Road from 5th Street to Sierra Vista Lane.

Three projects totaling about $291,531 will get the less costly slurry seal, including 5th Street from Saliman Road to Fairview Drive, Airport Road from College Parkway to Highway 50 and Stewart Street between William and Carson streets.

“If we had decided to micro seal the entire list we would have had easily six figures in ADA improvements,” said Pittenger. “Stewart Street has 80 ramps.”

In more immediate work, William Street from Carson Street south to its end will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday to repave it after the completion of sewer work and construction on a roundabout at Northridge and Ridgecrest drives starts next week.

In the spring, construction will start on 2.5 miles of Sierra Vista Lane, a project being done by the federal government with Dirk Goering, transportation planner, as the city’s project manager on it.

Christine Brandon, a TRAFCC member and resident on Sierra Vista Lane, asked if there would be opportunity for public input on the project as it is a federal project.

“We’ll talk to them and if it’s not up to snuff we’ll add to it,” said Pittenger.

Brandon said after the meeting being part of TRAFCC has given everyone the opportunity to advocate for their piece of Carson City.

“It’s been very educational and while we’re just an advisory board I think having real people’s input is important,” she said. “I am a voice for my neighborhood.”

A draft of the conceptual design of South Carson Street will soon be going to the Regional Transportation Commission for its approval, Pittenger said.

The concept overwhelming favored by attendees at a public meeting on the project in March reduces the road to five lanes with a middle turn lane and a median and multi-use path for pedestrians and bicyclists on the east side of the road.

Design of it will start in the fall after the freeway opens, said Pittenger.

Pittenger said before that there will be a freeway fun run now being planned by Public Works, the Sheriff’s Office and Nevada Department of Transportation.

There will also be a public meeting on June 7 on the Epic Rides event scheduled June 16-18.

Pittenger said one course is being redesigned to have less impact on nearby churches and others to circuit through town more because of the storm impact on some of the trails.

The next TRAFCC meeting, which is open to the public, is set for July 18.