Consider these traffic nightmares tricks, not treats

Halloween is my least favorite holiday.

I nick my fingers carving pumpkins only to have temperatures shoot back into the 80s and turn my "art" into one of those dried apple crafts, but uglier. Last year, I tucked a little stuffed puppy in my pocket and called myself a dog catcher. Yay Halloween.

This year is different. It might be that the colors associated with Halloween also represent my San Francisco Giants. Both are equally scary. In honor of my renewed excitement, I am revisiting a handful of our local traffic nightmares.

Lost in Centennial Hills

Centennial Hills is without a doubt our own little Bermuda Triangle. OK, vehicles do not vanish, but drivers disappear into their homes after giving up on trying to get wherever they had set out to go. It's ridiculously challenging to find a freeway in this community. Signs direct motorists to the Las Vegas Beltway or U.S. Highway 95, then disappear at crucial moments. Or they are stacked on top of each other indicating both freeways share the same road. Confusing.

And try finding the Montecito Marketplace shopping center. Each time you pass it on the freeway, it's more tempting. Wouldn't it be nice if a few signs would guide us so we could actually shop there?

Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown acknowledged that the signage in the area is not helpful. He said Clark County, the city of Las Vegas and the Nevada Department of Transportation are working together to improve it.

The freeways in the Centennial Hills area lack traditional exits that take you to the street on the highway sign. That's because the network of roads is temporary until the agencies can come up with the $140 million necessary to connect the Las Vegas Beltway and U.S. Highway 95. The time frame for that project? Between two and five years, Brown said.

"There isn't a traditional traffic pattern where there is an exit sign to get off here or there," Brown said. "It will certainly improve and be simpler when the
system-to-system (interchange) is improved."

Boulder City not bypassed

There is no escape from some Boulder City neighborhoods now that the new bypass bridge has opened and truckers have returned to Highway 93, which feeds into the tiny town. Transportation officials anticipate 2,000 trucks passing through the city daily. The Nevada Department of Transportation is working on plans to build a highway that would bypass Boulder City, a project that has been discussed for years.

"This project has been kind of on again off again for the last several years, but it's been elevated to higher priority, and the project is moving forward," said Tony Lorenzi, a traffic engineer with the Nevada Department of Transportation told a collection of Henderson and Boulder City residents last week.

Even though the bypass highway -- at an estimated cost of between $270 million and $315 million -- has earned the priority listing, it still won't be built for at least another decade, possibly even 15 years.

The problem in Boulder City is that residents on the west side of U.S. Highway 93 have to hop on the busy highway just to visit friends in the neighboring community. And, obviously, that is no easy task when you're dealing with convoys of big rigs.

Lorenzi delivered some good news to Boulder City folks. The transportation department has embarked on a project to punch Yucca Street through to Lake Mountain Drive.

"This will be a way for the people in Boulder City to move throughout the area without getting on the highway," Lorenzi said.

The road extension should be finished in about two years.

I-15 and Sahara Avenue

Interstate 15 anywhere near Sahara Avenue certainly remains a ghoulish gantlet. This stretch of highway remains frightening as wrecks continue to cause backups on almost a daily basis. We visited this issue back in January after discovering that during a two-month period, 38 percent of the accidents on Las Vegas freeways happened on Interstate 15 at Sahara Avenue; 87 percent were in the northbound lanes.

If you pay close attention, but not too close or your grill might end up entangled with someone's rear bumper, you will notice that a lot happens within about a half-mile: The express lanes end which means cars flying along unimpeded are reintroduced to bumper-to-bumper hell. Back up from the Spaghetti Bowl hides on the other side of a fairly significant grade, which means sometimes it's too late before you realize it is there. The onramps from Spring Mountain Road share the same space as the Sahara Avenue offramp lanes, which means people have to merge. It's fairly evident that no one wants to let anybody ahead in this town, even if it's one car length.

It was suggested back in January that it was primarily fender-benders causing backups but if transportation experts couldn't find a solution soon, it would become far more serious and it did. In April, a motorcyclist who rear-ended a vehicle was tossed from his bike, run over by another vehicle and killed. Three lanes were shut down for a significant amount of time as a result.

In September, a car traveling northbound on Interstate 15 rear-ended a cab on Sahara Avenue, shutting down the freeway. A Michigan tourist riding in the taxi was killed.

SUN CITY BLUES

The folks in Sun City Anthem must feel like there is no way out. Two of the main roads out of the neighborhood have been under construction: Volunteer Boulevard for months and Anthem Parkway for several weeks. The poor residents have been sucked into oblivion by the cones and barrels surrounding their community.

But these residents soon will awaken from their nightmare. All of the construction in this area is set to be finished by the end of the year.

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call Adrienne Packer at 702-387-2904, or send an e-mail to roadwarrior@reviewjournal
.com. Please include your phone number.