Carnage onBlue Diamond Road

The once wide-open southwest Las Vegas Valley is now a hodgepodge of residential developments lacking in parks and open spaces, commercial corridors, curbs, lighting, traffic signals and drainage and flood-control basins. But the piece de resistance of the area’s poor planning is state Route 160.

This congested highway, better known as Blue Diamond Road, provides literally the only way in and out of scores of neighborhoods and serves as the primary link to the fast-growing town of Pahrump. It is hopelessly beyond capacity between Interstate 15 and the Spring Mountains, especially on stretches that offer just a single travel lane heading east and west.

Crashes and carnage have been commonplace on Route 160 for years, but anyone who drives the road knows it has gotten much worse over the past several months. Since July 1, at least 18 people have been killed in accidents between I-15 and Pahrump.

Most of these accidents were avoidable. The chaotic environment that has resulted from poor planning and explosive growth puts motorists in foul moods before they ever leave their driveways. Unable to cross or enter Route 160 at many intersections, drivers often take foolish risks. Because the valley’s driving culture embraces red-light running, speeding and tailgating as skills worthy of merit badges, those risks can have deadly consequences.

Only recently have state and local officials acted with some haste to address the snarl along Route 160. The Nevada Highway Patrol has stepped up enforcement efforts, and the Department of Transportation lowered the speed limit between I-15 and Durango Drive to 45 mph from 65 mph (although traffic on some stretches of Route 160 never got that fast during rush hour). And work is under way to widen the highway to eight lanes between I-15 and Rainbow Boulevard. That project won’t be finished for at least two years.

Clark County transportation officials can’t be blamed for all the problems along Route 160. They’ve poured resources into other important projects, including an accelerated construction schedule for the Las Vegas Beltway.

And landowners along the highway are merely developing their acreage to meet the valley’s demand for housing. Despite all the congestion and anarchy along Route 160, people are still snatching up nearby homes as fast as they can be built. County planners could have required them to put in more infrastructure and pass those costs along to home buyers, but those improvements would have had no effect on Route 160 one way or another.

First and foremost, the mess along Route 160 is evidence of terrible communication between county and state officials. Neither bureaucracy is particularly inclined to respond to urgent constituent issues, even when said constituents are being killed in traffic accidents. It doesn’t take a six-month study to figure out what’s wrong with Route 160 and what’s needed to fix it – just drive the darn road at different times of day for a week, have someone take notes and make improvements a priority.

Then there are Southern Nevada’s legislators, who haven’t fought hard enough – or smart enough – over the past few years to get Clark County’s rightful share of state highway funding. Improvements to this highway could have been completed by now. Instead, a brand-new stretch of freeway is being built between Reno and Carson City. When that piece of Northern Nevada extravagance is completed in 2010, it will handle less traffic than Route 160.

Clark County voters need to put their legislators on the spot prior to this year’s elections and demand commitments to speed up major highway improvements in Southern Nevada.