Life’s not fair; and neither are the roads

Get used to it. That’s pretty much going to be today’s advice.

The world is not fair. We will make it better, step by step, but this will take time. It will take patience. It will take acquisition of the proper right of way and a hefty dose of sarcasm.

Robert gets things started off today by surprising me.

He wrote in an email that he travels to the Veterans Administration Hospital in North Las Vegas regularly. On his travels, he said, he noticed that Pecos Road between Washburn and Lone Mountain roads is closed. This appears to be a totally usable road, he said. It doesn’t seem to make sense that it’s barricaded.

“Any ideas as to why?” he wondered. He thought maybe it had something to do with the railroad tracks just to the southeast.

“It makes little sense to have a road built, then never opened,” he wrote.

Juliet Casey, a spokeswoman for the city of North Las Vegas, said the city closed that portion of Pecos because there have been too many crashes and it has a “sight distance problem.” They’d like to do something about it, but there’s not much out there anyway, so they’ll hold off for now.

“The city does not own right of way on the southeast corner of Pecos and Washburn,” she wrote. “Since alternative routes exist, the city decided to close it until additional development occurs and right of way is provided for the full street improvements.”

Sounds to me like if the city hadn’t done that, I’d be getting complaints about a dangerous intersection instead of a closed road.

In a shocking twist, Ray also had a North Las Vegas question.

“The North 5th Street bridge to nowhere seems to be complete,” he snarked in an email. “Are there any plans to connect the west side of the bridge to North 5th Street?”

Nope. They built the bridge as a piece of modern art, Ray, to make a bold statement about the busy lives we live and how we’re not as connected to our friends and family as we appear to be. It’s a metaphor.

Ha-ha! Just kidding! Of course there are such plans.

Again, I checked with Casey, the city spokeswoman. Here’s what she wrote: “The City of North Las Vegas is reviewing bids for the final project that will connect the newly completed bridge over Interstate 15 with a new bridge over Losee Road, and connect to Cheyenne Avenue. Once complete in 2015, motorists will be able to travel North 5th Street from the Northern Beltway all the way to downtown Las Vegas.”

Joe had a question about those really bright headlights that you see on some new cars. At first I pictured him screaming to the neighborhood kids to get off his lawn, you darn whippersnappers, but the question really does have merit.

He also wondered about cars that have those huge 20-inch rims, making them sit higher off the ground than they’re supposed to, which can make the headlights shine in your face.

What’s legal? Who enforces it?

State law says this: Headlights (measured from the center) must be at least 24 inches off the ground but no more than 54 inches off the ground. That’s a lot of leeway right there. My guess is that 20-inch rims on a Chevy sedan isn’t going to make it sit four and a half feet off the ground. So you’re out of luck there, Joe.

Now, as far as those newfangled lights go, it depends. If you mean the really bright, blueish-white lights in a lot of new cars, then yes. They’re legal. But there are a lot of replacement parts out there that aren’t legal. They’re too bright.

As far as enforcement goes, you know how it is, Joe. These are state laws, and the cops get to enforce them. But let’s get real. Those folks are busy with many things. Escaped prisoners and cars running people over and bad guys doing bad things. Headlights aren’t going to rank really high on their list of priorities.

So good luck out there.

Phil made me laugh, so I’ll include his ridiculous question.

He said he was driving east on Lake Mead Boulevard near Walnut Road ­— (OMG. That’s another North Las Vegas question, which is officially a record.) — when he noticed a bunch of tow trucks parked in the center turn lane.

“Is this legal?” Phil wrote in his email. “If so, I think I have just solved my parking problem.”

OK, Phil. You go right ahead. But I have a feeling this is one the cops are going to have plenty of time to enforce.

Got a transportation question, comment or gripe? Ship it off to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com. Or tweet to @RJroadwarrior.