Residents get glimpse of coming changes to downtown Carson City landscape

With a packed house and lots of questions, Carson City residents had a chance Tuesday to see what enhanced downtown landscaping, street and sidewalk improvements would look like in a planned redesign of downtown.

The Carson Street improvement project is part of an overall plan to revitalize the commercial corridors throughout Carson City. The improvements, made public during two workshops at the Carson City Community Center, will be funded through sales tax revenues, one-eighth of a cent, approved earlier this by the Carson City Board of Supervisors. To view some of the plans, scroll down to the end of this story.

The plans will implement the vision for downtown that was adopted with the City’s Master Plan in 2006, explained Carson City Planning Manager Susan Dorr Pansky.

The planning department will take comments from Tuesday’s open houses as well as continue to take comments throughout October then combine them into a yet-to-be determined format that it can present to the Board of Supervisors, she said.

In November, planners will take the results to the Board of Supervisors with design concepts and the public comments so that they can take everything into consideration and provide direction to staff on how to proceed with final design, Dorr Pansky said.

From there city planners will take whatever design concept the Board picks and will start work on the final design. The design will occur during 2015 and will include additional public meetings for input on more detailed design elements like landscaping, materials, art, lighting, public amenities, etc. The workshop Tuesday was designed to get some high level feedback on overall design, lane alignment and street configuration.

The planning department hopes to finish the final design in 2015 and begin construction on the project in 2016 during a non-legislative year. That will provide for minimal interruption to our legislators and also ensure that we take adequate time to complete a comprehensive, well-planned design while continuing to incorporate public feedback, she said.

While Tuesday’s workshop focused on Carson Street, a workshop Wednesday, Sept. 17, hosted by the Nevada Department of Transportation will address the next phase of construction and final segment of the Carson City Freeway scheduled to open in 2017. The public information meeting will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Carson City Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall building at 701 Old Clear Creek Rd. in Carson City. The public is invited to attend the open-format meeting, hear discussion on the project and provide comments.

Here is an FAQ on Transportation Aspects of the Refresh Carson City Project.

Question: Has there been an analysis of the anticipated impact that the redesigned Carson Street will have on traffic?

Answer: Yes, multiple analyses were conducted over the past several years (2007, 2012, 2013) as it relates to the project. Analyses were conducted for existing (base year) traffic conditions as well as forecast years 2020 and 2035, and all of the analyses indicated that a redesigned Carson Street could function well at today’s traffic volumes and future conditions as well.

Question: Won’t a reduction in through lanes on Carson Street cause traffic volumes to exceed available capacity?

Answer: No, current traffic volumes on Carson Street are at historically low levels not seen since the early 1970s. Traffic volumes are now less than half of what they were in the early 2000’s. Much of the traffic has already been diverted to the Carson City Freeway as evidenced by a decrease in traffic on Carson Street and an increase in traffic on the freeway over the past several years.

Question: Does the freeway need to be completed before the Carson Street project is built?

Answer: No, the traffic analyses that have been conducted, in conjunction with the declining traffic volumes over the past few years, indicate that the project could be implemented today without any significant adverse affects to the traffic flow on Carson Street. However, it is expected that the freeway will be completed within the same time frame that the Carson Street project is constructed.

Question: What if Carson City experiences significant growth in the coming years? Won’t the additional traffic cause congestion downtown?

Answer: No, the City has made substantial improvements on many parallel facilities to Carson Street, including Stewart Street and Roop Street as well as Curry Street further south. These roadways have ample capacity to absorb potential growth in north-south traffic and will have reduced traffic levels due to freeway completion as well. Additionally, any growth will be incremental and changes to traffic patterns as a result of the Carson Street project will be well established by that time.

Question: Will there be bike lanes on Carson Street?

Answer: Yes, bike lanes are included throughout the entire Carson Street design on both sides of the street, from Fifth Street to William Street.

Question: Will traffic be diverted to west side streets like Division Street?

Answer: Yes, but the diversion is expected to be minimal. The expected increase is several hundred cars over an average day.

Question: What will the speed be on Carson Street?

Answer: The speeds of vehicles on Carson Street are expected to decrease. The decrease is expected with the design and the reduction of lanes. This is desirable from a safety perspective and also for encouraging a business-friendly environment.

Question: With wider sidewalks as part of the design will here be parking on downtown Carson Street?

Answer: Yes, the design provides for pockets of parallel parking throughout downtown Carson Street in addition to the parking that is available now on most of the east-west intersecting streets. The additional parking is being designed to provide sufficient space for large vehicles with easy access and could also be used to accommodate potential JAC transit service.

Question: How will the Carson Street design impact the traffic signals?

Answer: The signal timing and coordination between traffic signals on Carson Street is expected to improve. There is already significantly less traffic on Carson Street than in previous years and the new design provides for shorter pedestrian crossing distances, reducing the amount of time necessary for pedestrians to safely cross the street.

Question: Will Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) funds be used to finance the project?

Answer: No, the project will be financed with a combination of revenues from utility fees and the recently approved 1/8-cent sales tax.

Question: What will happen to the landscaped medians on Carson Street?

Answer: The medians will be removed to accommodate a continuous center turn lane. The removal of the medians will improve emergency response access and ease maintenance operations. The loss of landscaping will be more than offset by the inclusion of trees and other amenities planned as part of the pedestrian landscape.

Question: What will be achieved with the redesign of Carson Street from a transportation perspective?

Answer: The Carson Street project will provide for a much safer and accessible environment for pedestrians and bicyclists with wider sidewalks, a decrease in street crossing distance, and dedicated bike lanes. It will transform Cason Street into a truly multi-modal facility with the inclusion of the bike lanes and the potential to accommodate transit service in the future. Operationally, traffic will flow more efficiently under the improve design with recalibrate signal timing and coordination to better reflect the scale and traffic patterns of the roadway.

snapshots.9.15.14 by Carson Now