Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Ramp meter debut relatively smooth

No accidents, significant delays reported at U.S. 95 onramps

A car enters U.S. Highway 95 at Lake Mead Boulevard, where ramp meters were activated for the first time Tuesday morning, from 6 to 9 a.m. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

A handful of commuters saw their workday drives come to screeching halts because of newly activated ramp meters Tuesday morning.

But they weren't among drivers obeying the traffic-spacing devices along some U.S. Highway 95 onramps.

Police stopped at least 20 drivers and issued them tickets for disregarding the new stop signals, which came online at the Cheyenne Avenue and Lake Mead Boulevard ramps to southbound U.S. 95.

The meters, common in some big cities, are the first ever to be used in Southern Nevada, in hopes of squeezing more efficient use out of existing highway lanes.

"It's going to be a learning curve," said Bob McKenzie, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Transportation. "Some people still haven't gotten the message to stop at the red lights. The Highway Patrol was out there to give them a reminder."

But generally, traffic seemed to flow fairly well.

No accidents or significant delays were reported because of the meters, which essentially are traffic signals that spread out vehicles entering the freeway in hopes of thinning slowdowns that occur when ramp traffic merges with existing freeway traffic.

"Overall, everybody did pretty good," said Trooper Angie Chavera of the Nevada Highway Patrol.

The number of drivers failing to notice or heed the signals far exceeded the number that were cited, though.

"What we saw was -- this is not scientific, this is anecdotal -- probably 65 percent compliance," said Ingrid Reisman, a spokeswoman for the Regional Transportation Commission.

The stoplights, which will be activated from 6 to 9 a.m. and again from roughly 3 to 6 p.m. on weekdays this week, uses a red light to hold a car for a few seconds before a green light allows it to enter the freeway. Then the cycle repeats.

"Overall, it's going to help," said Michael Geeser, a spokesman with AAA. "But it may not have seemed that way to drivers this morning, encountering them for the first time."

Traffic appeared to steadily move through the signals. "There were some times they slowed up and tapped the brakes," Reisman said. "There were other times they came to a stop."

Drivers seemed to be following the lead of others, Reisman and Geeser said.

"If the person ahead of you stopped for the red light, everybody behind them stopped. But if the first person blew through it, everybody blew through it," Geeser said. "It didn't matter what the law was, it was what your neighbor did."

Chavera said some drivers confronting the meters alone looked confused. "It was like, `OK, nobody else is on the ramp. What do I do?' " she said.

"There's been ample warning, ample time for everybody to understand they were going in place," Chavera said, "I really believe the general public understands what ramp meters are for."

At the Lake Mead entrance, observations by the Review-Journal found red lights lasting from one to six seconds per car.

Cars took anywhere from 28 seconds to 1 minute, 12 seconds to go from the start of the ramp to the highway just after 7 a.m., depending on how many cars were already in line. Before metering, that trip took around 30 seconds in normal driving conditions.

Three of 12 cars tracked there also ran red lights. Police went after one of those cars.

At the longer Cheyenne ramp, red lights appeared to last a uniform three seconds amid light traffic around 7:30 a.m. Cars appeared to take around 45 seconds to get from the start of the ramp to the highway.

Reisman said to her, it appeared Lake Mead traffic flowed better. "There was a little more of a wait time on the Cheyenne ramp," she said. "Lake Mead, not at all."

Geeser said the signals on Cheyenne could have been cycling a "little quick," confusing drivers on when to stop or go.

Work now will turn toward adjusting the signals, which will see its set schedule replaced with a variable schedule during rush hours as soon as next week.

"Now, what we'll start doing is looking at traffic patterns and demand, and set those turn-on times based on traffic demand," Reisman said. "Once commuters get used to it, we can start working with the timing."

Chavera said the Highway Patrol would continue assigning special details to those ramps during the morning commute through late April.

Later, efforts will turn toward expanding the ramp meter network. By year's end, meters will be activated from Las Vegas Boulevard and Fourth Street-Casino Center Boulevard to northbound U.S. 95, and from Eastern Avenue to both northbound and southbound U.S. 95.

Engineers hope to eventually add meters elsewhere on U.S. 95 and start a network on Interstate 15. A schedule for those moves is pending.

"It's time to get used to them, because more are on the way," Geeser said. "The plan is to put in a lot more."

Ramp meter information is available online at www.rtcsouthernnevada.com/rampmeters or via a recorded hotline at 385-7267.