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-News Articles/Editorials/Letters to the Editor-
2/19/2001
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A group cultivating the landscaping plan for Carson
City’s freeway is trying to get local leaders to approve
a concept in time for the state to design the next
phase of the multimillion dollar project. The Carson City Regional Transportation Commission last week supported the group’s “vision document” for landscaping a 4-mile stretch of a proposed highway. The next step is to get the concept endorsed by the Carson City Board of Supervisors, Parks and Recreation Commission and Open Space Advisory Committee. Carson City officials, area residents and the Nevada Department of Transportation once were at odds about how to landscape the project, but starting late last year, the groups began working together to find a mutually satisfactory solution. “We’re hoping the city fathers and appropriate advisory boards are supportive of the picture we’re trying to paint out there,” said Vern Krahn, Carson City park planner. Mary Fischer of Carson City’s Gardeners Reclaiming our Waysides, or GROW, has been a long-time advocate of making the freeway swathe cutting through the capital look as aesthetic as possible. She said she was pleased with the recent effort. “The relationship with all parties is 100 percent better than it was a year ago,” Fischer said. Construction on freeway bridges is under way now. The next step in construction, dubbed Phase 1B, will be to link the overpasses with a highway from the bottom of Lakeview Hill south to U.S. 50 East. NDOT engineers are trying to get 60 percent of Phase 1B designed by March 6. And for any sort of landscaping plan to be included, officials need the endorsements from city leaders. So far so good: The RTC lauded the joint effort and conceptual designs. “Anything we can do to soften the effect,” said Marv Teixeira, RTC board member and former Carson City mayor. “(The freeway) is an intrusion, whether you want to admit it or not.” Krahn said officials are trying to come up with a “growth medium” for the slopes along the freeway, where native vegetation will be able to grow. Around College Parkway, Arrowhead Drive, U.S. 395, U.S. 50 and other interchanges, officials are looking at more landscaped areas, not just free-growing vegetation. “I’ve said all along that it needs to fit in the area,” said Supervisor Jon Plank, chairman of the RTC. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to build a rain forest ... I don’t think that’s any more appropriate than leaving it barren.” In its construction, NDOT officials have agreed to apply the growth medium, which will likely include a variety of seeds and possibly fertilizer, as well as install water taps and lines, and electrical connections. The landscaping of the interchanges and maintenance of the slopes will be up to the city. “Everyone would like to see it just perfect, but everyone realizes the dollars are the main constraint,” Fischer said. “I’m convinced if we all just keep focused and keep sticking together, we will come up with a real first-class job. It’s not going to be perfect the first year ... but if we are patient and get the right growth medium in there, we will have something we’re happy with.” Construction on the first 4-mile phase of the highway is slated for completion in 2004 or 2005. Phase 2 of the freeway will continue the highway from the end of Phase 1 to the southern junction of highways 50 and 395. Work on that 5-mile stretch should begin about 2004 or 2005, with completion targeted for 2008 or 2009. Presentations about the Carson City freeway vision document will be made before the Parks and Recreation Commission on Tuesday, Open Space Advisory Committee on Feb. 26 and Board of Supervisors on March 1. |
