Roadway deaths are up in Las Vegas. There’s a plan to reverse the trend

As deaths among vulnerable road users continue to rise in the Southern Nevada, officials are exploring ways to increase safety to reverse the trend.

A total of 1,131 crash-related deaths occurred on Southern Nevada roads between 2019 and 2023. Of those deaths, 610 were vulnerable road users, according to Nevada Department of Transportation and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data. That includes 312 pedestrians, 255 motorcyclists and 43 cyclists.

Trending in wrong direction

The Regional Transportation Commission, Clark County office of traffic safety and other area partners are spearheading an initiative dubbed the Safe Streets for Action Plan to address ways to curb traffic-related deaths. The program is being paid for with a $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“It really is responding to the rise in traffic deaths. … specifically vulnerable road users,” said Andrew Kjellman, senior director of RTC’s metropolitan planning organization. “We’re trending in the wrong direction. … and we see a concerning rise with those vulnerable road users.”

“This project allows us to take a step back and ensure that we have everything in place to have those difficult conversations about what we need to do to drive down those numbers (of road fatalities),” said Andrew Bennett, director of Clark County’s office of traffic safety. “The process of going through these conversations and this planning is the project.”

Roadway adjustments

Some of those conversations will include the potential to address road engineering and consider where the street size and speed limits could be reduced to increase safety. In a car-dependent city, those conversations can stir controversy among motorists wanting to quickly get where they want to go.

“Those wide roadways, speed limits of 45 mph of more, which are always classified as arterial, we have to decide to fix those roadways — and that’s hard when you have a region that is car dominant,” said Rebecca Sanders, founder of Safe Streets Research and Consulting.

Bennett and Kjellman agreed that there are some roads in the Southern Nevada region that are too wide for the number of drivers using them. They hope to pinpoint some of those roads as locations for such safe street measures as reducing the number of traffic lanes, widening sidewalks, buffering bike lanes and improving lighting.

“A lot of that is a low-hanging fruit that we could potentially right-size in coordination with the owners of the right of way and the public to make sure that they agree with it,” Kjellman said.

The plan

The plan includes focusing on five key areas:

— Gathering input from road users in the community via surveys, events, demonstrations and walk audits.

— Including all road users to improve safety for all.

— Reviewing data to figure out safety risks and identify improvements.

— Collaborating with different jurisdictions and agencies to work toward long-term change.

— Using prototype safety upgrades to make roads safer.

“The level of community engagement that we’ve committed to on this project will help drive those conversations and possibly make those difficult conversations a little easier,” Bennett said.

What’s to come?

The plan kicked off last month with the start of public outreach. That process, which includes a regional survey and community input, will continue through August.

From September through January, demonstration projects will be set up, walk audits and focus groups will be conducted and additional local surveys will solicit feedback.

The final phase will last between February and May. It will include final analysis and recommendations to help guide project priorities and adopt recommended design and final plans to address traffic safety issues.

“Through the fall and into the winter, we want to do temporary demonstration projects throughout the region, where we’re going to be testing safe streets improvements,” Kjellman said. “To see their impact on improving safety and see if they have public support. … Then we want to finish up the project next summer with a priority list of project recommendations.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X. Send questions and comments to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com.