School district seeks state funds for busy intersection

Traffic problems at Merton Drive and Taylor Street could improve if the Churchill County School District is successful in getting a grant from the Nevada Department of Transportation.

The Safe Routes to School program allocates money to projects that increase the number of elementary and middle school students who walk or ride a bicycle to school.

Nevada Department of Transportation officials will explain the grant process to the school board at a Feb. 8 meeting.

Churchill County School District Superintendent Carolyn Ross said she and Fallon Police Chief Russ Brooks have asked NDOT for help with the intersection for more than a year. The police department assigns a community service officer to direct traffic at the intersection before school and after school to help alleviate the congestion.

"What we've got there is a mess," Ross said about students crossing the street and heavy traffic during morning and afternoon hours. "We hired a full-time security officer this year to bird-dog that. I know there's a problem there."

She is hoping to obtain a grant that would include sidewalks and curbs in the area.

Nevada has almost $1 million in Safe Routes to School grant money, said Bill Story, Safe Routes to School coordinator for NDOT.

The purpose of the program is to encourage more children to walk or bicycle to school. If children began walking or biking to school, it encourages a healthy lifestyle while reducing traffic, fuel consumption and air pollution, according the program's Web site.

The grant is aimed at elementary and middle school children. Fallon would qualify because of Lahontan Elementary School is at the end of Merton Drive and the junior high school is nearby.

The funds can be used for sidewalks, speed reduction techniques and traffic improvements within two miles of schools.

Adding sidewalks or other infrastructure might come out of the plan and could be done through the grant, Story added.

"We would have to see the data - the number of walkers and bikers before and show an increase," Story said.

He said if a solution cannot be found through the Safe Routes to School grant, there are other funding sources that might address issues at the intersection.

"It gives me ammo to go to the state office," he said.

Brooks said community service officers monitor traffic and pedestrians at Merton Drive and Taylor Street for 45 minutes each morning and 45 minutes when school gets out.

He previously asked NDOT for a traffic light at the intersection, but learned the situation does not warrant a light because the traffic issue only occurs twice a day and only during the school year.

Brooks has contacted Lahontan Elementary School, he said, asking officials to coordinate with parents to use Whitaker Lane or Sunset Drive instead of Taylor Street to reach the school when dropping or picking up children.

"For some parents, that's another option to drop them off there and take some of the pressure off the intersection," he said.

The suggestion has not been very effective, he added.