Carson City RTC reviews preliminary pedestrian-safety designs for College Parkway and Fairview Drive

The Carson City Regional Transportation Commission on March 12 reviewed preliminary design concepts for pedestrian-safety improvements at six intersections along College Parkway and Fairview Drive, with staff emphasizing pedestrian refuges, upgraded signage and overhead lighting.

‘‘Today we're gonna discuss safety concepts at the intersections on College Parkway and Fairview Drive,’’ said Casey Sylvester, transportation and traffic engineer. The six intersections under review are College Parkway at Imperial Way, Northgate Lane and Airport Road, and Fairview Drive at Gordon Street, Desatoya Drive and Edmonds Drive.

The concepts are preliminary and do not include detailed design, Sylvester said. Goals included increasing driver awareness, improving pedestrian facilities and using “high value, low cost” countermeasures identified in FHWA guidance. Staff said they developed the concepts assuming no right-of-way acquisitions and plan to advance design in spring; construction was tentatively scheduled for 2026–27 if grant funding is secured.

Traffic-calming elements proposed vary by intersection. At Imperial Way and Northgate, staff recommended adding pedestrian refuges that create two-stage crossings and restricting one left-turn movement at each location. Sylvester said the peak-hour left-turn volumes are low at Imperial (about 27 vehicles per hour) and higher at Northgate (about 73 vehicles per hour), and that traffic could be redistributed to nearby access streets.

‘‘This does restrict the eastbound left turn at this location,’’ Sylvester said of the Imperial concept, and later noted the left-turn volumes equate to “less than 1 vehicle per 2 minutes” at Imperial during peak hour.

At Airport Road and College Parkway and at Desatoya Drive, staff said moving the crosswalks to one side of the intersection would allow a pedestrian refuge without restricting vehicular access; those concepts include new curb ramps for ADA compliance, overhead lighting and updated MUTCD-compliant signing. Sylvester gave an estimated conceptual cost of $147,000 for Airport at College Parkway and $147,000 for Desatoya Drive, and said the total conceptual cost for all six intersections including design and project management is about $1.1 million.

Commissioners raised several concerns during discussion. Several members urged staff to avoid merely transferring traffic problems from one street to another and asked for traffic counts and routing analysis showing how diverted left-turns would flow into neighborhoods. Commissioner Maloney requested neighborhood outreach, particularly around lighting, noting prior resident complaints about lights impacting windows. Member Schuette and Member Dobson urged staff to consider larger or more conspicuous pedestrian signage and to review whether additional strategic lighting could reduce the need for turn restrictions.

‘‘I don't wanna transfer the problem — I solved it for one year and I moved it on to somebody else's street,’’ a commissioner said during discussion about left-turn restrictions.

Staff explained they considered but did not recommend rectangular rapid-flashing beacons for these intersections because MUTCD guidance and FHWA interim recommendations generally restrict that treatment to locations with speeds at or below 35 mph; College Parkway segments under review have 40 mph speed limits. Sylvester said staff prioritized lower-cost, high-benefit treatments such as retroreflective strips on signposts and upgraded markings before adding higher-cost options.

Commissioners also discussed funding paths: Sylvester said staff plan to submit a Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) grant application the same week; Maloney suggested the Airport–College crossing could also be eligible for transit-related (FTA) funds because it serves pedestrians accessing a bus stop. Sylvester said anticipated local costs would be about $235,000 if HSIP funding is awarded.

The commission did not take formal action on the design concepts at this meeting; staff will advance design work and pursue grant funding and return with additional information, including more detailed counts, outreach plans and refined layouts.