Carson City to take over Carson Street, Arrowhead to Fairview, in July 2010

We’re finally getting an idea when all those big cars, trucks, vans and working vehicles will no longer rumble and rattle their way through our fledgling redeveloped downtown. It’s sometime in early September when the freeway is opened to Fairview. And we’re learning about when Carson City takes complete control over Carson Street from Arrowhead to Fairview…July 2010. That’s when the city can keep North Carson Street as is, or narrow it down to one lane each direction with broader, wider sidewalks, street pavers and street planters, to invite more pedestrian traffic for restaurants, bookstores and gift shops.
In return, the city has agreed to take over more “state-owned” streets like the rest of College Parkway, East Fifth, Snyder, Stewart, Airport and William, from Roop to the freeway.
In a pending agreement between Carson City and NDOT, Carson City will take over all these “state maintained” streets and in return Carson City won’t have to put any more local gas tax money into the freeway construction. Not for 7 years anyway, by which time the freeway would be (hopefully) finished to Spooner. And in those 7 years, the city would amass a lot of street maintenance money not only for the new streets it takes over from the state, but also for streets it has owned for eons.

Getting back to the city’s 3-cent gas tax contribution to the freeway – if the state gets more federal stimulus money to finish the final leg to Spooner, the city will get a further break. It’ll perhaps have to turn back over only a portion of the 3-cents of the local gas tax to pay down the cost of the final leg. So, a lot of elements are moving around. But one thing is for sure, we get to drive the new Fairview to Highway 50E leg sometime in early September!