$3.3M awarded to improve traffic safety in Las Vegas Valley

More than $3.3 million of federal funds announced Friday will help improve traffic safety in the Las Vegas Valley.

Through transportation appropriations, $2.5 million will go toward installing 3,500 upgraded LED streetlights across the city where traffic fatalities and severe injuries are heavily concentrated, and $850,000 will go to the Regional Transportation Commission to install video mirrors on 425 public transit vehicles.

“Whether you’re driving to work or biking with your children or walking to the store, every Southern Nevadan deserves to feel safe on our roads and sidewalks,” said Rep. Susie Lee during a news conference at the intersection of South Durango Drive and West Sahara Avenue, where she announced the grants she helped secure through her role on the House Appropriations Committee. “And when they aren’t safe, we all feel it.”

The new LED lights will be installed along Sahara Avenue, Buffalo Drive, Rancho Drive, Decatur Boulevard, Rainbow Boulevard, along the Las Vegas Wash trail and throughout the Summerlin area, according to Joey Paskey, director of public works from the city of Las Vegas. The installation will take about 12 months.

Las Vegas has seen a rise of vehicular collisions that have resulted in an average of one death and three serious injury crashes a week, Paskey said.

Last year, the Metropolitan Police Department responded to nearly 19,000 collisions across Las Vegas, and 61 percent of serious injuries and fatalities occur in areas with dark lighting conditions for pedestrians, according to officials.

“These escalating statistics have prompted us to proactively place more emphasis and focus towards achieving a safer and more equitable transportation system through the adoption of Vision Zero,” Paskey said.

The program’s goal is to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries by the year 2050, she said. The city identified 90 action items to implement to make the roads safer, including implementing new lighting improvements to improve visibility, Paskey said.

RTC’s new video mirrors, which will start to be implemented in June, will help eliminate blind spots, glare and distortions that traditional mirrors cause, Lee said. She said they also will allow public transit vehicles to make safer turns and lane changes.

A separate $2 million investment will go toward installing 500 solar lights on bus stops throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

Many customers of the Regional Transportation Commission travel very early in the morning or late at night, said Angela Castro, deputy chief executive officer of the RTC, so the solar-powered lighting will help improve visibility.

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.