High-accident areas to see improvements on Blue Diamond Road

Work is underway on traffic signals along state Route 160, aka Blue Diamond Road, at Fort Apache Road and El Capitan Way, with a projected end date set for October.

“If you can believe it, this was once just a desolate highway,” Nevada District 9 Sen. Becky Harris said during a May 16 groundbreaking ceremony for the project. “But now we’ve seen it transform into a much-needed and very important arterial road for District 9. We’ve had a lot of challenges with car crashes and fatalities, particularly in this area of Blue Diamond Road, and any fatality — whether from a car crash, an incident from a cyclist or an incident with a pedestrian — is one too many.”

Mark Leon, president of the Mountain’s Edge Master Association board of directors, said residents are excited and relieved to see stoplight construction begin, especially at El Capitan.

“For several years, Mountain’s Edge has ranked among the fastest-growing communities in the nation, but all too familiar to us, private growth has outpaced public infrastructure,” Leon said. “The traffic from our increasing population creates precarious conditions at Blue Diamond and El Capitan, and it’s a rare month that goes by without us witnessing a serious accident at this intersection. We whisper aloud and post on social media that we hope everyone is OK. These are our neighbors. We press our politicians to tell us when something will be done. Today, something is being done. This stoplight and pedestrian crosswalk project will manage traffic flow and improve safety for our residents.”

Leon said residents have been pressing the state for at least a couple of years to put in lights.

“It’s an especially dangerous intersection,” he said, “especially if you’re trying to turn left from the Mountain’s Edge area to go to Pahrump or to Fort Apache. We see numerous accidents.”

Leon said while he has been lucky, his wife and many of his neighbors have not been as fortunate.

“It’s tough,” he said. “Almost every time you see an accident there, it’s going to be someone you know. We all access Blue Diamond using the same route.”

State Transportation Board member Tom Skancke said the $2.4 million project is part of $10 million the Nevada Department of Transportation has allocated for pedestrian walkways and safety improvements.

“In February, Gov. Sandoval made it very clear to the state Board of Transportation as well as to the NDOT team that pedestrian safety was our No. 1 priority,” Skancke said.

“It’s no secret that the number of pedestrian lives that we have lost has increased over the last year,” he added. “In fact, last year, there were 73 people who lost their lives in pedestrian crosswalks. There is no way you can measure that loss unless you have experienced that yourself.”

Nevada District 35 Assembly Rep. Brent Jones said the intersections have been a major concern for his constituents. About 1½ years ago, he began attending community association meetings.

“During those meetings, I’d ask, other than big broad-stroke things — like we need education reform, we need better schools, we need lower taxes 0r more taxes depending on what side of the fence you are — the overwhelming response was, ‘We need a stoplight at Fort Apache, and we need a stoplight at El Capitan,’ ” he said. “I heard the stories of people backed up for almost a half-hour trying to get out in the morning, constant car wrecks, constant problems with people passing away.”

Harris said she’s been advocating for safety improvements since she was elected.

“Today I am pleased to report that our concerns have been heard, and they’re being addressed,” she said. “As you can tell just by glancing out at Blue Diamond Road, currently, we have large stretches of business and residential areas that are dissected from Blue Diamond Road, and these projects are going to get residents to those businesses and more importantly bring those residents home from work at the end of the day to their families.”

Harris said that over the next five months, Las Vegas Paving is slated to not only install lights but improve the sidewalks and gutters.

Department of Transportation Deputy Director Tracy Larkin-Thomason encouraged residents to be patient with the construction process.

“When you see those orange cones, don’t think just about the frustration you’re having on the road at the time. Think about it as relieving safety, relieving congestion and basically providing jobs. That’s critical for our area.”

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Contact View contributing reporter Ginger Meurer at gmeurer@viewnews.com. Follow @gingermmm on Twitter.