Transportation Department planning Boulder Highway safety improvements
The Nevada Transportation Department is planning multiple safety improvements on Boulder Highway in 2016 and 2017.
The road has been the scene of 14 traffic fatalities this year, including including eight pedestrians and a bicyclist.
Next year, the 16.7-mile stretch of highway will get an overhead rapid flashing beacon and Danish-offset median island at Boulder Highway and Sun Valley Drive, near the Eastside Cannery.
Like the one on Maryland Parkway in front of UNLV, the S-shaped Danish offset will force pedestrians to turn to the right when they reach a median between traffic lanes. Because pedestrians briefly face oncoming traffic, they can better see and avoid cars.
The six-month project will also close left-hand vehicle turns, thereby eliminating pedestrian conflicts, according to department. It's part of $10 million in additional pedestrian safety improvements authorized by the State Transportation Board in early February.
"Every death and serious injury on Nevada roads is a tragedy," Transportation Department spokesman Tony Illia said. "We have consequently identified several areas along the Boulder Highway corridor for pedestrian and motorist improvements."
The department will be lowering the speed limit from 55 mph to 45 mph along a 2-mile stretch of Boulder Highway north of Galleria Drive in early 2016.
Other projects are in the works, but funding and coordination among different jurisdictions can be tricky. Boulder Highway passes through unincorporated Clark County, Las Vegas and Henderson.
Although the Transportation Department will begin the preliminary work of improving lighting, crosswalks, sidewalks and median enhancements along at least seven Boulder Highway crossings, construction won't begin until 2017, Illia said.
Las Vegas police on Tuesday sent a team of officers from the southeast area substation to Boulder Highway to hand out traffic safety pamphlets and discuss the issue. Metro Capt. Jack Owen said the department will continue to engage with the community in an effort to reduce the number of traffic deaths along the corridor.
"We need to change drivers' attitudes. There seems to be, even despite our best efforts, some apathy," Owen told the Review-Journal on Tuesday. "You realize that these stories and these people, they're brothers, they're sisters, they're husbands, they're wives, they're family.
"They're more than a statistic on a sheet for us. That's a life."
Transportation Department officials seem to agree. The agency dedicates approximately $21 million annually in federal funds to roadway safety projects and programs.
"Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our transportation system," Transportation Director Rudy Malfabon said.
Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Find him on Twitter: @WesJuhl
