Although there were some slowdowns and police stops, the debut of ramp meters Wednesday morning along some downtown Las Vegas interchanges of U.S. Highway 95 appeared to go fairly well, authorities said.
The Nevada Highway Patrol estimated it issued about 40 tickets from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. to drivers who failed to yield for the meters, at the Las Vegas Boulevard on-ramp to northbound U.S. 95 and Eastern Avenue on-ramps to northbound and southbound U.S. 95.
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"All in all, we're very pleased with how things went," said Tracy Bower, a spokeswoman with the Regional Transportation Commission. "There were some people who didn't stop at the meters. NHP did pull some people over. It's like running any other red light."
Police said drivers appeared to adapt quickly to the signals.
"Most people seemed to know they were coming," said Trooper Kevin Honea of the Highway Patrol. "Of the people cited, they claimed total surprise, which is possible, although there were big, bright, red lights there."
Bower said "at one point, there was a bit of a backup" at some ramps because of police stops partially blocking traffic. Engineers then reconfigured cones to separate stopped traffic from ramp traffic.
Essentially, the meters are stoplights that allow vehicles to enter the freeway one at a time in hopes of thinning slowdowns that occur at interchanges where a cluster of cars entering the freeway tries to merge with traffic already on the highway.
The meters use a red light to hold a vehicle for a few seconds before signaling a green light, letting the vehicle enter the freeway. Then the cycle repeats. The meters will be activated from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays.
The only other ramp meters now in operation are along U.S. 95 at Cheyenne Avenue and Lake Mead Boulevard in the northwestern valley. Those have been active since 2005.
Next month, the RTC pans to activate meters along a half-dozen Interstate 15 ramps in the resort corridor. Those will be at northbound and southbound on-ramps from Russell Road, Flamingo Road, Spring Mountain Road and Charleston Boulevard; the southbound on-ramp from Sahara Avenue; and the northbound on-ramp from Tropicana Avenue.
