Sun, heat bring woe to motorists

It's almost that time of year again, when the mercury reaches past 100 degrees, paint on the streets melts and bad things happen to vehicles. We'll start with something that soon won't. The car battery.

Michael is charged up: What is the typical life cycle of a battery in Las Vegas. A year? How does it compare to other cities and is there a way to prolong the life of your battery?

Most Las Vegans can undoubtedly relate to this question. The short answer would be, not long at all. It's a desert out there and any one who owns a vehicle will pay for that. According to Paul Escareno over at AutoZone, the average life span of a battery in these parts is two to three years. Based on personal experience, I'm taking the under on three years; I might even take the under on two. The heat takes its toll. In California, for example, that same brand of battery might survive for five years.

Other things factor in as well. If your car is parked in the hot sun all day, the battery probably isn't going to last as long as someone who has covered parking or a garage. If you drive your car sparingly, the battery life will not be as extended as somebody who commutes daily. There is little anybody can do about, except make sure that the battery posts aren't corroded.

Unfortunately, the weather has adverse affects on vehicles here. And batteries aren't like windshield wipers, which personally, I hate replacing for a storm that might generate eight raindrops . So, I deal with my baked wipers that smear the dead bugs across my windshield and rely on gas stations that still have the decency to offer soapy water and squeegees.

Marsha is angry: On a Tuesday at approximately 5:10 p.m. I was traveling north on Rainbow Boulevard with the intent of making a left turn on Tropicana to head west. This particular intersection has double left-turn lanes. I counted 12 cars in front of me in each of those two lanes making lefts. I sat through three changes of lights! Only three cars in each of those two lanes could turn left onto Tropicana before the light changed. Left-turn arrow was only green for a total of eight seconds. My entire wait time was eight minutes. When did the timing change for this signal? This is outrageous and totally unnecessary.

Sometimes readers have a feeling something is just not right; that the engineers overseeing traffic signals can't possibly be that clueless. This was one of those circumstances. Marsha was absolutely right. Someone did change that signal. It was Mother Nature. Apparently turn signals have "gap sensors" that trigger the light to turn red when it appears a line of cars has passed through the intersection. Traffic engineers with the Freeway and Arterial System of Transportation checked out this signal on Rainbow and realized that it was taking a direct hit from the sun, making it think there were no more cars in the lanes. Basically, it was blinded by the sun. Last week, they turned off the sensor so everything should be running smoothly now.

Karla asks: Can you provide an update on the closure of Elkhorn Road at Decatur Boulevard? It was scheduled to be closed for six weeks but that was six weeks ago and it does not appear anywhere near complete.

The city of Las Vegas started that storm drain project in the middle of March. Because of the size of the project -- the underground new flood channel boxes run from Decatur to Thom Boulevard -- it was never slated to be finished within weeks. According to the city's Public Works Department, the project is scheduled to be completed and the roads reopened by mid-June.

Tom is hoping to get a break: Do you know if the rest areas off Interstate 15 on the way to California are open? We drove out last summer and they were closed.

California seems to have a tough time with its rest stops. Last summer, the Valley Wells rest stops were closed for maintenance and refurbishing and that is probably when Tom was passing through. About a year ago, the same rest stops, which are about 25 miles west of the Nevada-California border, closed again because the contract with the maintenance company had expired. The contract issue also caused the closure of the Clyde V. Kane rest stops 30 miles east of Barstow . A new company landed the contract, cleaned the bathrooms and, according to the California Department of Transportation, we are all good to go ... literally.

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