Cochise Street being readied for development in Carson City

Cochise Street is being reclassified to prepare for further development and increased traffic in south Carson City.

The Carson Area Metropolitan Planning Organization on Wednesday approved a request to the Nevada Department of Transportation to change Cochise Street from a local street to a minor collector street.

The change would mean developers have to build to a different standard to handle higher traffic volumes and add bike lanes, and would make the road eligible for certain federal funds.

The area is undergoing significant development with several projects in the works and more on the drawing board. The Carson Hills Apartments, for example, is a 370-unit complex now under construction.

The change would apply to Cochise Street between Clearview Drive and Bennett Avenue. Cochise Street turns into Curry Street north of Clearview, which is already classified as a minor collector street.

CAMPO member Supervisor Brad Bonkowski called it a first step to provide the infrastructure needed for the anticipated growth in traffic.

CAMPO also approved an amendment to its Unified Planning Work Program to move funds off certain tasks to pay for a required planning document. The change was needed in order to fund the JAC Transit Development and Coordinated Plan for the city’s Jump Around Carson bus service. The plan is required to remain eligible for federal funds. Previously, NDOT did it when Carson City was considered a rural county for federal funding purposes. CAMPO issued a request for proposal for a consultant to do the plan but received only one response, which was higher than budgeted.

The Regional Transportation Commission, which met after CAMPO, approved a contract not to exceed $86,470 with LSC Transportation Consultants, Inc., to do the document.

CAMPO also set its 2019 safety performance targets to comply with the Federal Regulations and the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act.

The annual targets are 3.17 fatalities, 12.66 serious injuries, 4.43 non-motorized fatalities and serious injuries, a .43 rate for fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, and 1.57 serious injuries per VMT.