Highway 50 corridor study delayed one month

The much-awaited Highway 50 Corridor study, which was to be released this month, has been postponed until February.

The delay will allow more work on plans to improve access to the Highway from collector roads, said Sandi Stanio, local government liaison for the Nevada Department of Transportation.

"We want to plan for development so you don't have stoplights every 50 feet, and you don't have the congestion," she said.

The Highway 50 Corridor Stakeholders meeting is set for 11 a.m. today, and Stanio said it will include discussions of left-turn pockets, acceleration and deceleration lanes, right-in, right-out access for some businesses as well as other access issues.

They are also looking at alternative routes, she said, but cautioned that alternative routes are a county issue, because it is off the state roadway.

"We are encouraging (county officials) and encouraging developers who want access roads onto Highway 50 to build a connector road," she said. "We would love to see those extended where they would come out at retail centers, such as Smith's Market or Six Mile Canyon."

The state will also include in the final study the potential for a second bridge over the Carson River, but won't build one, she said.

"Our bridge program doesn't fund bridges off our system, so that is a county issue," she said. "Our concerns are if they put in a second bridge, where it would access Highway 50, so we can mitigate any impacts that could have."

She said one focus of today's meeting is to find ways to limit access to local traffic, so the corridor is safer.

"Say you're in a big development, and you want to visit your neighbor," she said. "We want to find ways you can do that without having to go onto Highway 50.

She said the county has asked that Highway 50 remain an arterial road, where it won't have lots of stoplights and would be kept open.

Stanio said NDOT was planning a public bus tour in February to go along Highway 50, so people can give input on what they want along the corridor.

The corridor study covers Highway 50 from the Carson City Freeway to Leetsville Junction in Churchill County, with the goal to provide a plan to define transportation alternatives for the highway and solve existing and future problems.

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111 ext. 351.

If you go

WHAT: Highway 50 Corridor Study stakeholders meeting

WHEN: 11 a.m. today

WHERE: Lyon County Utilities Building, 34 Lakes Blvd., Dayton