A pedestrian bridge to nowhere

Installed several months ago, the enclosed pedestrian bridge sits about 18 feet above Nellis Boulevard adjacent to Sahara Avenue. It takes you across several lanes of traffic to a sidewalk -- not a trail -- and it has cost you, the taxpayer, nearly $1 million and counting. So does the crosswalk 300 feet away -- but it cost $3,000. Where is the accountability for this waste of taxpayer money?

Originally, the bridge had a purpose -- to connect the Flamingo-Arroyo trail over Nellis Boulevard for trail walkers. The importance of continuity for trail walkers was paramount, according to urban trail planners. Only thing was, the trail ended at Nellis Boulevard and took surface streets until it reconnected several blocks later at Sloan. But county commissioners and bureaucrats decided to build the graffiti-magnet, 500-foot-long bridge anyway.

The county had three options initially: a northern route, a southern route on surface streets, or through the county golf course (Desert Rose). County officials ruled out the golf course after liability concerns over golf balls and the possibility of building a caged-in, half-mile path which, in turn, caused further safety concerns in an already high-crime area.

Besides, the $3,000 ladder-painted crosswalk 300 feet away at Nellis for everyday crossers simply was too inconvenient and too dangerous for trail walkers. According to one Clark County Comprehensive Planning source, traffic studies deemed the streets too dangerous for trail users to cross and necessitated pedestrian bridges. In fact, more million-dollar pedestrian bridges for trail users are on the way, also close to crosswalks. But at least they connect parts of the trail to each other and provide a safer crossing for trail walkers over nearby pedestrian crosswalk users.

More than $2 million will be spent within the next year to purchase and install two more bridges, one spanning Charleston near Arlington, the other at Nellis (again) -- and both are within a mere 1,000 feet of each other, ensuring that "continuity" will prevail. In stark cost contrast, major streets such as Stewart Avenue, Bonanza Road and Washington Avenue will not require million-dollar bridges, but inexpensive crosswalks that will occasionally delay trail walkers.

The money was generated by sales of federal land used for development through the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act. Most taxpayers likely never knew it was their money or who was accountable.

Accountability had been diluted between several municipalities and their bureaucrats -- the city of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Clark County. In turn, the multi-year effort to build cement paths and accompanying lights has at times appeared sluggish, disjointed and wasteful, literally re-inventing the wheel each phase. For example, the city of Las Vegas Stewart-Charleston Trail Phase 2 segment, proposed in mid-2005, with construction promised soon via a city of Las Vegas "courtesy flier" and suffering from a severe lack of safety measures, currently is not even out for bid.

While a premium has been placed on continuity for trail walkers to a fault, paradoxically, what is missing are the physical security measures needed to ensure those same trail walkers are safe from possible criminal activity. Parts of the trail are upward of half of mile, encased by six-foot high walls with no safety outlets, with no regularly scheduled safety patrols, no monitoring, no under-the-bridge lighting, no call boxes and no signage for emergency contacts.

A waste of taxpayer money is not always buried somewhere, requiring an in-depth investigation. Sometimes it is the 500-foot-long steel and cement structure right in front of you.

Las Vegas resident Martin Dean Dupalo is president of the Nevada Center for Public Ethics (www.nevada-ethics.org).