Boys and Girls Club asks for Lompa Lane extension

By the time a freeway is built, Lompa Lane will be cut in two, with no stop light from Highway 50 East to the property that will one day be home to the Boys & Girls Club of Western Nevada.

But club officials are asking Carson City to support changing Lompa Lane in the freeway plan from a cul-de-sac to a road that connects to Northridge Drive across the club's property. In the freeway's current design, there would only be westbound access from Highway 50 to Lompa Lane.

In a letter to the Regional Transportation Commission, club Facilities Committee Chairman Buzz Fitzpatrick wrote the club would have to build an extra long driveway and turn-around spot to accommodate traffic. He asked for city leaders to do whatever possible to connect Lompa along the west side of the freeway to Northridge. City Transportation Manager John Flansberg said that likely means funding.

Flansberg said state freeway designers have problems with extending Lompa because it creates a potential delay at a point when design on the freeway's first phase is nearly completed.

"Is it a huge thing?" he said. "Probably not. There are a lot of reasons we could be looking at delays. It's very possible we will need to expend funds to build this project. They aren't huge costs, but they will be needed to be paid for by somebody."

Flansberg said the extension would be about 500 feet. The club donated property along the freeway's western edge for a multi-use path, which would become bike lanes and sidewalks along Lompa under this proposal. Flansberg said the project has "pluses" like savings to the state for the cost of the multi use path, but "minuses" for the idea coming up so late in the freeway design process. But the road would allow heavily residential areas in North Carson City access to the club without having to use Highway 50, Flansberg said.

Cathy Blankenship, club executive director, said the extension would "work better for the whole community."

"Blocking off that road was tough," she said. "(The cul-de-sac) took a big chunk out of our field space."

Blankenship said not only would the extension create better traffic flow for buses coming to and from the club, it could lower some of the costs of developing the club site. She also said the club would donate the property needed for the extension.

Regional transportation commissioners will consider the proposal Wednesday. If commissioners support the idea, Flansberg will send a letter to the Nevada Department of Transportation requesting the extension be included in freeway plans. The project then would vie with other transportation projects for a spot on the funding list early next year.