Week in Review

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Jeff Moser

It’s been a great week biking here in Carson City! We’ve had fantastic and interesting conditions up on the trails, and brand new bike lanes have opened up along a vital urban corridor. Here’s a look at what was happening this week.

Cortney Bloomer and Ashley Dale on the Creek Trail

The week started off with mild weather, and enough snow had melted to allow us to ride the Creek Trail. The November storms had left the trail frozen for weeks, so it was a real treat to get to ride this fantastic trail again. I had almost forgotten how fun it was, but all the grins from the riders were a good reminder!

Rainy commute home on the Ute

On Tuesday, epic riding conditions disappeared into clouds and buckets of rain. I rode my fendered Kona Ute, but I’m not sure that bought me anything. My borrowed Goretex pants soaked through in the first mile to work, and water was running into my boots. I was thankful for the dry shoes, socks, and underwear I had stashed in my desk at work! I really need to figure out rain protection for my lower half. The way home that night was much better though, with a light drizzle and energizing tail wind. It was one of those commutes that I was sorry when the ride was over.

Cortney Bloomer on the Deer Run Trail

Rain turned to snow in the mountains Tuesday night, and we awoke to ideal riding conditions once again. We didn’t have moist sand like on Monday, but we had snow that was perfect for riding in. It was cold and powdery, with plenty of traction for climbing and descending! Once up on the upper trails, we were completely in the snow, but we were able to keep going. Our tires were slipping around here and there, but for the most part, you could really keep your speed.

Scott Russel on the Four Day Trail

Scott Jeffries on the Evidence Trail

Cortney Bloomer – Peace, Snow, and Singletrack

Scott Russel on the Evidence Trail

Scott and Cortney on the Evidence Trail

If you’ve never bombed down a hill in the snow, let me tell you…it’s fantastic! The snow deadens most of the sounds you usually hear, leaving only the wind in the trees above and the crunch of the tires on the ground. Very peaceful and serene.

Snowy Descent back to Carson City

Way back in the Fall of 2009, Muscle Powered approached the Carson City Regional Transportation Commission about including bicycle lanes in the plan to widen Roop Street. Roop Street is a vital cycling corridor, as it is the only road other than HWY 395 that crosses Carson City without interruption, nearly all the way from county line to county line. Thanks to support from the cycling community, the RTC was persuaded to have the contractor revise the plans!

Donna Inversin at the Roop Street Opening Ceremony

On December 16th, over a year later, the ribbon was cut, the cones removed, and Roop Street was open once again for business. There is now plenty of room for cars, bikes, and pedestrians, and Muscle Powered’s relationship with the city has never been better! A big thanks goes out to all who were involved in this project, it was a big win for cyclists!

Members from Muscle Powered attended the ribbon cutting ceremony and were the first cyclists to officially ride the new bike lanes on Roop Street. This included Donna Inversin, who after retiring, finally decided it was time to learn how to ride a bike! Great job, Donna! I’m proud of you!

More news on the Roop Street ceremony can be found over on CarsonNow.org.

Morning Commute – Self Portrait

A winter storm greeted us Friday morning. I knew weather was on its way, but was really surprised to see how much snow was already accumulating. I decided on the 29″ wheeled Karate Monkey for the day’s snow riding, hoping that I wouldn’t encounter too much ice. It’s still snowing as I write this, and more snow is forecasted for the next several days. What cycling adventures lie ahead are anyone’s guess…

Roop Street Update

Posted on October 15, 2010 by Jeff Moser

The Roop Street project has been going on most of the year, but we’re now finally starting to see some areas near completion. Roop Street between William Street (HWY 50) and Robinson is now open, and the new bike lanes have been striped between William Street and Washington Street. I attended the Regional Transportation Commission recently, and here’s the latest scoop on the project.

Heading north on Roop Street by the library

Like I mentioned, there is new striping on Roop Street in front of the library. Apparently it was supposed to be completed all the way down to Robinson, but the striper didn’t realize this. He’ll be back. If you’ve had the opportunity to ride this section yet, you’ll notice the stripes look a bit fuzzy. There are even areas of the stripes that look powdery. It was mentioned that the striper had the mix off. Part of the paint composition is little reflective beads, and the ratio of beads was way too high. It is hoped that a street sweeper will be able to clean this up.

There are two alterations that are worth mentioning too. Washington Street west bound off of Roop is now One Way. It was opened for a brief time, but even though it is now one lane and painted as one way, it was reported that hundreds of drivers didn’t realize this and tried to merge onto Roop Street. They had to close this section off again until better signs and markers can be installed.

Washington Street Alteration

Also altered is the intersection of Caroline and Roop. There is now curbing installed that prevents east bound turns onto Roop Street off of Caroline. Riders looking to get on northbound Roop from the center of town now need to do so at Robinson Street.

Roop Street north of William Street is paved all the way to Long Street now. There is still much work to do on the sidewalks. And because of the additional property acquisition to make the street wider, there is now a need to install curbing and retaining walls. Some properties now have a two foot drop down to the sidewalk, because the new sidewalks cut into the slope.

Although not complete, riding the widened and striped sections of Roop really give you a feel of how it’s going to feel when completed. It’s great! The road feels really wide now, and it feels like the bicycles and cars now have plenty of room to coexist. It’s going to be fantastic once completed.

Roop Street Widening Project – Phase 3

Posted on March 17, 2010 by Jeff Moser

On March 10th, Muscle Powered attended the Carson City Regional Transportation Commission meeting to learn more about Phase 3 of the Roop Street Widening Project. This is the section of Roop Street that stretches from Washington Street to 5th Street. This phase won’t begin until after the phase that is currently under construction, Washington Street north to Beverly Drive, has been completed. Still, it is nice to know what the big picture is.

Roop Street Looking North

Three alternate plans were presented to the RTC that included:

Four 11′ lanes for auto traffic (2 northbound, 2 southbound)
5′ striped bike lanes on each side of the road.
5′ sidewalks on each side of the road.
1′ concrete center divider curb.
Left Turn Pockets at selected intersections.

All three alternate plans were the same except where to build the left turn pockets. Alternate plan 3 was the most favorable with the left turn pockets at Washington, Musser, and 5th Streets. This was a compromise between making left turn pockets available at important intersections, while preserving front yards of residences near Robinson Street.

I really like the idea of left turn pockets, since they don’t waste a lot of valuable space. This is especially important when retrofitting an already existing narrow corridor like Roop Street. A small percentage of traffic actually uses turn lanes, and only occupies the space near the intersections. The rest of the turn lane is just wasted space that could go to bike lanes and sidewalks.

Roop Street Looking South

Right of Way Challenges

This section of Roop Street will present some challenges during reconstruction. While there are some wide sections that will make it easy for construction crews, other areas are very narrow. Right of way acquisitions for the project will intrude pretty far into some people’s yards, take out some fairly large trees, and will bring the sidewalk up very near the houses. I rode down Roop Street the day after the meeting to get a better look at the impact. Some areas wouldn’t be impacted greatly with the right of way acquisitions, businesses, parking lots, bare dirt, etc. The biggest impact was to about a half dozen houses on the east side of the road about half way down. These residents would lose much of their yards.

The project is still quite a ways off though, and much can happen before construction. Will there be enough money left in the shrinking budget to continue? Will a shrinking Carson City population justify more auto capacity? In its current condition, it’s not safe to ride a bike down this part of Roop Street during many times of the day, and there are no sidewalks on many sections. Just adding bike lanes and sidewalks, and keeping the traffic down to two lanes would be a huge improvement. This would also create less of an impact for the residents, and probably save some of the big cottonwoods that provide shade for these properties.

A good lesson I took away from this meeting is that we started a ripple effect last fall when we asked for bike lanes on Phase 2 of the Roop Street widening project. The planners knew that we would want bike lanes on Phase 3, and we didn’t even have to ask. None of us had to get up and speak during the meeting. All we had to do was nod and smile.

Carson City Bicycle Transportation News

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Jeff Moser

ROOP STREET

In the Fall of 2009, Carson City cyclists went to the Regional Transportation Committee, and asked for bike lanes to be included in the widening project of Roop Street. And the RTC listened. Well now the time has come to begin the project! Unfortunately, things are going to get worse before they get better. Roop Street will be closed between William Street and Beverly Drive to all northbound and southbound traffic starting January 25th, and continuing until project completion in November 2010! This means that much of the traffic from Roop Street will be diverted onto the New Stewart Street Extension, currently the safest way to travel north by bicycle in this area of town.

A Quiet Stewart Street Extension

So what does this mean for the bicycle commuter? The southern half of the extension has enough room to share the lane, but north of the curve, the lane narrows and cars must use part of the turn lane to get around you. We won’t know for sure what the traffic will look like, but it may be a good time to start thinking about route alternatives if you currently use Stewart Street Extension during peak commuting hours.

News Release from the City:

ROOP STREET PHASE II WIDENING PROJECT SET TO BEGIN
Carson City, Nevada -
A significant project that will result in the widening of Roop Street from Beverly Street to Robinson Street and numerous utility improvements has begun this week, and will continue for much of the remainder of the year. When the project is complete, Roop Street will have two through lanes in each direction, upgraded utilities, enhanced bicycle and pedestrian accommodations, and improved transit amenities.

The Carson City Regional Transportation Commission is expected to award a contract to widen the road in February, but utility work has already begun. There will be minor traffic impacts on Roop Street between William Street and Washington Street until January 25, when work will shift to the north of William Street. Roop Street will be closed between William Street and Beverly Drive to all northbound and southbound traffic starting January 25 and continuing until project completion in November 2010. During construction, traffic will be maintained on Long and Corbett Streets across Roop Street, and access will be maintained to businesses on Roop Street. Additionally, Roop Street will be closed from William Street to Robinson Street for a period of about two months. That closure is currently expected to occur during the summer.

During construction, the primary alternative route will be N. Stewart Street – including the recently-completed N. Stewart Street extension. The N. Stewart Street extension now connects William Street to N. Roop Street, ending at a point north of the construction area.

The Jump Around Carson (JAC) transit system will also be affected by this construction. Routes 1, 2A, and 2B will primarily be using N. Stewart Street along with other traffic. Specific detour maps for the bus routes will be posted on all JAC buses before January 25, but passengers can
obtain more information by visiting www.rideJAC.com or calling (775)-841-RIDE (7433).

FREEWAY BICYCLE TRAIL

As you know, the current freeway bicycle trail connects College Parkway to Northridge Drive. It has long been the wish of cyclists to extend this path all the way south to 5th Street and beyond. Chas Macquarie provided this update on the potential extension of the freeway bicycle trail south of Highway 50.

As most people familiar with the Freeway Trail saga know, NDOT was forced to design and construct a multiuse trail on Phase 1 of the freeway from Silver Oak Dr. (formerly Broadleaf) to Hwy 50. However, there are sections that are bike lanes on two streets – Retail Court and Russell Way adjacent to the new Boys and Girls Club. As part of the deal the City cut with NDOT, NDOT is not required to construct a trail on subsequent phases of the freeway, though they did construct the east-west link that connects the linear ditch trail to Butti Way where it joins up with the trail the City paved on the south side of 5th Street. So there is now a good east-west trail across Carson City east of Roop Street. NDOT also agreed to design the freeway so that it did not preclude the future addition of a trail “to the extent practicable”.

Continue reading the Update on Carson City Freeway Trail on the Muscle Powered Blog.

Roop Street Bike Lane Update

Posted on November 5, 2009 by Jeff Moser

Bike Lanes were the first item on the agenda last night at the Regional Transportation Commission meeting, and Engineering firm Manhard Consulting, LTD was there to make their redesign presentation. The room was once again packed last night, but they weren’t familiar faces. Three of us from Muscle Powered attended, eager to hear the verdict.

As the speakers unveiled their redesign plan, it began to be apparent that things were looking good. Here’s a summary of the bike lane plan:

Summary of Changes to Include Bike Lanes

Four lanes throughout project varying in width from 10′ to 11.25′ (10′ wide only at Long Street intersection)
5′ wide bike lane from Washington Street to Adams Street (Lane is measured from the stripe to the face of the curb, so subtract the width of the gutter)
4′ shoulder from Adams Street to Beverly Drive (again, subtract the width of the gutter)
Left turn pockets at Washington, Highway 50/William, Corbett, and Long

The most interesting change to me was the left turn pockets. Last month the proposal was to fully delete the center turn lane. This new plan adds the turn pockets only where really needed, adding additional room for bike lanes, and reducing the amount of right-of-way property acquisition. More of the road can be utilized more of the time, and no space is wasted where you don’t need it.

Like I mentioned last month, the section from Adams Street to Beverly Drive is too narrow to include an official 5′ wide bike lane, so they are calling it a 4′ shoulder. I think this should still be wide enough for most cyclists, and there was talk that share the road signs should be installed along this section to enhance safety.

The commissioners asked a few questions after the presentation, but overall, the mood was great and they once again agreed that the additional costs to the project were minuscule compared to the overall project. The turn pockets are a good compromise between bicycle and auto facilities. The project is really shaping up and looks to be an improvement for all road users.

The next meeting will be in December, and will include a presentation and vote on the amount and usage of the funds available. Keep your fingers crossed! As for the rest of the crowd in the room, nobody got up and commented about bike lanes, so I’m not sure what they were there for. I left after the bike lane discussion, but the Clear Creek closure was going to be talked about near the end of the meeting. I’ll see what I can find out about this topic.

Trail and Bike Lane News

Posted on November 3, 2009 by Jeff Moser

Pine Nut Mountains
Last Friday, Jeff Potter and I went on a field trip with the BLM. BLM is interested in creating more of a presence in the Pine Nut Mountains, by use of designated trailheads, official routes, and trail kiosks. The BLM called in several trail user groups to get our input on how we use the trails, and where we thought the access points should be. User groups included Muscle Powered, the Carson Valley Trails Association, the Pine Nut Mountains Trails Association, The Great Basin Institute, Pine Nut Preservation League, and NASTR. It was a great opportunity to network with other trail users, and hear other points of view.

Following BLM to El Dorado Canyon

NASTR proposes Hobart Road Trailhead
Tonight, Tuesday November 3rd, the equestrian group Nevada All-State Trail Riders is asking folks to come down to the Community Center and support a trailhead project. The meeting is at 5:30PM in the Sierra Room

NASTR proposes the improvement of the existing multi-use (non-motorized) trailhead located at the end of Hobart Rd, Carson City (Lakeview Park) as follows: relocation of the property access gate to another on-site location thereby providing for, yet restricting, vehicle access; construction of a gravel access road in a single loop configuration, wide enough to accommodate parallel parking for cars, trucks, and horse trailers; installation of equine tie-racks which double as barriers to off-road vehicle access; placement of trash receptacles; and, construction of a trailhead kiosk.

Hobart Reservoir

Roop Street Widening Project
On Wednesday November 4th at 5:30 PM in the Community Center Sierra Room, the Roop Street Widening Project will once again be on the agenda of the Regional Transportation Commission monthly meeting. Last month several cyclists showed up to support the inclusion of bike lanes in this project. Tonight, Public Works will be bringing a revised plan of the project to present to the Commissioners for review. This will be informational only, and no decisions will be made. You can read more on this issue over on the Muscle Powered blog. Please come down if you can, but we probably don’t need a large show of support until next month when a decision will be made. Last month’s large attendance should be fresh in their minds for this meeting. And of course, we’ll keep you posted of the outcome of the meeting.

Regional Transportation Commission Meeting Report

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Jeff Moser

On October 14th, Carson City cyclists attended the Carson City Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) meeting to show their support for bike lanes on the future Roop Street widening project. Cyclists were seated in every row, and I hear it’s one of the biggest crowds the RTC has seen for quite some time!

Speakers from the public included myself (Muscle Powered), Dan Allison (Muscle Powered and Safe Routes to School Coordinator), Tim Rowe (Nevada Bicycle Advisory Board and Alta Alpina Cycling Club), and Luke Wold (Wold Fitness).

Roop Street – Looking South from Beverly Drive

Public Works came up with a preliminary redesign of the Roop Street widening plan to present to the commissioners at the meeting. It was suggested that 5′ bike lanes could be included from Washington Street to Adams Street. Due to what I believe are right-of-way issues, the section of Roop Street from Adams Street to Beverly Drive could not accommodate 5′ lanes. It was suggested that this section could be striped with a fog line, but could not be officially called a bike lane due to the narrower width. Public Works said that these revisions would add $50K-60K to the price of the project, but one of the commissioners said this additional cost was minuscule compared to the price of the overall project…especially if it better fit the needs of the public.

With the inclusion of the bike lanes, the center turn lane was removed from the new proposal, but the plan still allowed for 2 lanes of traffic going north and south. It was pointed out that this may back up traffic if people needed to make left turns during peak traffic, but some thought the impact would be minimal. The new Stewart Street extension will allow easy access to the neighborhood to the west of Roop Street, and should alleviate some of the left turn issues on Roop Street.

Roop Street – Looking North from Washington Street

I had a great follow up phone conversation with Patrick Pittenger, Carson City’s Transportation Manager. A revision of the plan discussed above will be presented to the RTC in November, but would not be up for approval until December; however, he cautioned that in these times of diminishing budgets, monies available for projects today may not be available a few months down the road. It could be several months before the actual project started, if at all.

Patrick had good news to report too though. He has secured federal funds for more bicycle projects around the city that include bike lanes on Goni Road north of Arrowhead Drive, bike lanes on 5th Street from the roundabout to Hells Bells Road, and bike lanes on Washington Street from Carson Street to Roop Street.

We also talked about the recent addition of bike lanes on Winnie Lane west of HWY 395 (see Dan Allison’s post on the Muscle Powered Blog for more details), and clarification of the Roop Street plan for bike lanes on Roop Street between East Winnie Lane and Northridge Drive. This section of Roop Street over Lone Mountain will have 8′ bike lanes in both directions, and a pedestrian path on the east side of the road. This is fantastic news for northern Carson City cyclists trying to get to the trails on the west side of town!

I would like to thank everyone who took the time out of their busy lives to come down and show your support for a more bicycle friendly Carson City. The mood of the RTC was visibly brighter than a month ago when we first began our discussions, and this is due to your collective enthusiasm. I’ve found that the city is usually very open to suggestions if you can demonstrate that the people are interested. That’s just what we did Wednesday night.

And finally, when I was out this morning getting pictures for this post, I decided to ride down Roop Street, since the traffic was fairly light. Along the way I imagined that I was riding on a path, and it was great! It was nice to ride a direct route to work instead of my typical labyrinth of side roads. I didn’t have to go through several rain gutters, up curbs, through parking lots, or dart across traffic. This can be fun sometimes, but sometimes you just want to relax.

Bike Carson

Bicycle News, Culture, and Lifestyle in Carson City, Nevada

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