A couple of couplets

A half-dozen years ago, we were lukewarm to the idea of one-way "couplets" through Carson City to help ease the traffic flow.

City officials also weren't very excited by the idea -- particularly because it was seen as something of an alternative to a real bypass around downtown.

Given a choice, Carson City residents wanted a bypass.

Now, though, with the reality of increasing traffic on Roop Street staring at us over the steering wheel each morning and afternoon -- and still no bypass -- the couplet idea is sounding mighty appealing.

Regional Transportation Committee members don't know the cost yet, but they're fairly certain it will be substantially less than a lengthy widening of Roop.

The idea so far is to send traffic one-way north on Roop Street most of the way through town. Likewise, Stewart Street would handle the southbound traffic.

This makes a lot of sense. And the best part of the idea is punching Stewart Street through the north beyond John Street to connect with Roop.

As pointed out by John Flansberg, the city's street operations manager, Stewart is vastly underutilized. The reason: "It doesn't go anywhere."

Regardless of the ultimate use of Roop and Stewart -- will they still need to be one way 10 years from now? -- there will always be a need to connect Stewart on the north.

We would like to note the plan will cause some hardships, especially for the neighborhood where Stewart would be extended. (From a purely selfish view, a one-way north Roop Street also won't be very handy for the Nevada Appeal when we move to Mallory Way, so we'd like to put in our request now for a connection to Fairview Drive.)

In the long run, though, the couplet plan will benefit most of Carson City -- until a bypass is built, and far beyond.