Guiding Principles:
The city’s vision is guided in seven Guiding Principles: Well-managed growth; access to open lands and recreational opportunities; economic vitality; vibrant downtown and gateway corridors; livable neighborhoods; unique history and culture and; a connected community.
Today, we’re finishing our series on the Master Plan draft currently under review by the city and its leadership.
A Master Plan is essentially the city’s blueprint for the next 20 years, which includes guidance and goals for growth, housing, economic development, natural resources, aesthetics, and more.
The first Master Plan was adopted by Carson City in 1958, followed by five additional updates, the last being in 2006.
You can read the full overview in our previous reporting here.
The first topic covered by the Master Plan was the goals and priorities for well-managed growth.
The second was Access to Open Lands and Recreational Opportunities.
The third was Economic Vitality.
The fourth, Vibrant Downtown and Gateway Corridors.
The fifth, Livable Neighborhoods.
The sixth, Unique History and Culture.
Today, we’re taking a look at the seventh and final goal: A Connected Community
The City will seek to ensure that most major destinations, parks, and open space areas within the community are accessible via safe, enjoyable routes, free of vehicular conflicts.
Carson City has seen a number of roadway improvement projects, such as the Carson Freeway and the Complete Streets program, that have transformed the look, feel, and function of the City’s multimodal transportation network.
The improved connectivity in Carson City allows residents to travel throughout the community using a safe and efficient multi-modal transportation system. Enhancing the City’s multi-modal system has many benefits, including providing affordable transportation options for lower-income residents, creating opportunities for active transportation options through walking, rolling, and biking, and improving traffic congestion.
As Carson City continues to grow, traffic volumes and safety are top of mind for many residents.
The Carson Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) is the agency responsible for creating and maintaining the Regional Transportation Plan and other transportation-related documents for the Carson City urbanized area, which includes Carson City, northern Douglas County, and western Lyon County. Within Carson City, street patterns and roadway designs are influenced by the same plans and policies that inform the design of our built environment.
Goals
Carson City will maintain a safe transportation system that facilitates efficient travel both within and through the community using a variety of motorized and non-motorized modes.
The City will seek to ensure that most major destinations, parks, and open space areas within the community are accessible via safe, enjoyable routes, free of vehicular conflicts, that allow the user to appreciate the natural setting of Carson City with or without their automobiles.
Additionally, the City will seek opportunities to enhance existing transit services as feasible to increase travel choices for the community and to support a more compact pattern of growth.
The main goals to achieve a connected city include:
Provide and Safe and Efficient Multi-Modal Transportation System for All Users
- Promote the development of an integrated multi-modal transportation system
- Seek opportunities for coordination of the regional transportation, transit and unified pathways plans
- Encourage ridership of the city’s transit system
- Align the goals of the local road safety plan and the safe routes to school master plan
- Coordinate ongoing road improvement projects under the purview of other entities with the city’s unified pathways master plan
- Maintain a transportation network through the Complete Streets Policy and the construction of roads consistent with the City’s Regional Transportation Plan, prioritizing the creation or enhancement of parallel routes
- Be an active presence in in regional and state-level transportation planning activities to identify opportunities for joint planning/construction efforts and more
Coordinate Land Use and Transportation Decisions to Support the Use of Alternative Modes of Transportation
- Ensure that the City’s transportation system can efficiently accommodate the development specified on the Land Use Map. Conduct periodic updates to the City’s transportation model based on future development projections to ensure the feasibility of development patterns portrayed on the Land Use Map.
- Promote the development of transit-supportive development patterns (e.g., mix of uses, pedestrian-orientation, higher density) along major gateway corridors to facilitate future transit.
- Establish standards for development along major gateway corridors to preserve their functional integrity, capacity, safety, and appearance. Support compact development patterns utilizing existing streets and pathways managed by the City wherever possible.
Establish a city-wide system of Sidewalks, Multi-use Pathways and Bike Lanes
- Expand the city’s existing network of pathways to link geographic locations within the community
- Provide multi-use paths to cross physical barriers, establish direct connections between neighborhoods, schools and other destinations
- Broaden the types of facilities provided within the community
- Identify missing-link sites as future development occurs
- Require future development to construct on site sidewalks and connections to adjacent pedestrian and bicycle systems
Priorities
From these goals, staff is recommending the following priorities, which means that the city should begin working toward these goals immediately following plan adoption:
There are no priorities for this goal.
The entirety of the Master Plan Update 2024 can be viewed here.
