Crossing gores without breaking laws or going crazy

Last week we visited the southeast area of the valley where so many residents questioned the new traffic signal at Volunteer Boulevard and Executive Airport Drive. This week, Karen has another concern about the new road configuration near the M Resort. Here we go:

Please have an engineer try it. If you are exiting southbound Interstate 15 on to St. Rose Parkway east. You make a right turn onto Las Vegas Boulevard. OK, now try to get over - legally without crossing solid white lines - to make a left turn on to Volunteer Boulevard. It cannot be done! I would really like to see someone do it.

Well Karen, I didn't challenge an engineer to complete the task, but I wandered down that way last week to see whether I could accomplish the challenge. I am sensitive to crossing gores - the V-shaped section that separates through traffic from turning traffic - after riding along with the Nevada Highway Patrol and watching them empty their ticket books.

The markings were murky at best, and I completely understand your concerns, Karen. I couldn't tell when I could start merging to the left to turn onto Volunteer. Kathleen Richards, spokeswoman for the city of Henderson said that was indeed a concern years ago. The city at that time modified the gore on Las Vegas Boulevard so that it is dotted and you can indeed cross over it without breaking the law. When I drove it, it appeared to be dotted, but it was worth double-checking. The real challenge of course, is making it across the lanes in a short distance while blending with traffic traveling 55 mph.

Another reader asks: I have a question about the East Flamingo Road and U.S. Highway 95 interchange ramps. The ramps were supposed to be landscaped with rock in February . The Tropicana ramps were landscaped toward the end of last year and the Flamingo ramps were supposed to be done. The projects were funded with federal stimulus money.

Wow, somebody who truly is eager for landscaping. There have been some administrative delays that have affected that project. Damon Hodge, spokesman for the Nevada Department of Transportation, said the agency has plans to landscape those ramps by the end of the year, but it probably will be sooner than that.

Gary doesn't like the dark: Is there still a law on darkness of window tint? I see cars every day that are opaque. It's very dangerous for law enforcement.

The law here, Gary, is that the driver's side and passenger's side windows can only be shaded enough to keep 30 percent of the sunlight out. That, according to Nevada Highway Patrol trooper Loy Hixson, is the lightest tint available. Of course, we see windows tinted far darker, and Hixson said it is enforced because, as you mentioned, it poses a danger to law enforcement. It is also a hazard for others on the road. As far as the fine, that is not determined by the NHP, but the courts. Troopers have equipment to test the tint to ensure that 70 percent of the light is entering the vehicle. Some dealerships sell vehicles with darker tinted windows when requested but warn the buyer they are not responsible for the tint and explain they could be ticketed for it.

Another readers asks: Isn't there a law that slower traffic must keep to the right unless in the process of passing another vehicle? I travel Interstate 15 and Interstate 215 every day and get frustrated when slower motorists refuse to keep to the right. Most figure that everyone can just go around them but this creates a hazard due to too many cars switching lanes, especially into the middle lane where vehicles from the far right are also switching into the middle lane simultaneously. I frequently see cars driving in the left-hand lane with miles of open road in front of them and a log jam behind them.

This, too, is indeed a law. If there are two or more lanes, slower traffic must stay to the right. If they are reaaaalllly slow, they must take an alternative route (stay off the freeway). A slower vehicle is expected to move over if there are two or more cars close behind them.

Now, some people believe that motorists should change lanes when they are traveling the speed limit and the vehicles behind them wish to go faster. "If someone is traveling under the speed limit, causing traffic behind it to back up, that's when the law goes into effect," Hixson said. The trooper has pulled motorists over for tailgating, and they fought the ticket, saying they were in the fast lane. Um, that doesn't mean you are allowed to drive 85 mph on someone's bumper.

It's fitting that the final question comes from a man with the last name Beers: With soaring triple digit temps here in Vegas, I was wondering if you knew just how hot our roads can get? I heard it is somewhere around 140 to 160 degrees (surface temperature) for asphalt.

Paving temperatures on days when the mercury is expected to hit 111 - the day the question was asked - asphalt paving temperatures will rise to anywhere between 185 degrees to 205 degrees, according to Corey Newcome, a project engineer for Las Vegas Paving. He said his crews have actually fried an egg on the asphalt.

With that said, Mr. Beers has made me thirsty. So I believe I will go down a beer and perhaps perform the egg test. Cheers!

Send your questions to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com.