Hairpin curve a temporary mess

The city of Henderson has been working for months on projects to improve ingress and egress to Sun City Anthem. The bigger endeavors include the widening of Volunteer Boulevard and the extension of Executive Airport Drive and Via Inspirada. While all this was being built, something strange happened, and our first reader’s question gets right to the point.

Warrenetta has a warning: They have opened Bicentennial Parkway in Anthem Highlands past Democracy Drive going west and it is incredibly dangerous. There is a curve that makes no sense where the speed goes down to 15 mph with walls. Who designed this mess?

The good news is this is a temporary mess. I did take a drive down there to see exactly how dangerous this turn is and was surprised to see the speed limit go from 45 to 25 to 15 mph in a matter of a few yards. It’s dark too, which doesn’t make it any safer. Now that I’m done editorializing, I’ll let the knowledgeable experts take on this question.

According to the city of Henderson, Via Inspirada was expected to be a major arterial leading out of the Inspirada development and also provide relief to the congested Eastern Avenue. Inspirada, the master developer, went bankrupt several years ago, so the road was never built. Henderson came up with the funds to build part of Via Inspirada and also extend Bicentennial Parkway. The point at which these two roads merge is where that hairpin curve exists. This is temporary and by the way meets the engineering criteria. When the two roads are finished, they will eventually merge and extend west all the way to Las Vegas Boulevard. When that happens depends on funding availability.

Lee asks: I have lived in Las Vegas for eight years now and drive Simmons Street between Smoke Ranch and Craig Road on a regular basis. For eight years this street has been either under construction or pretty much unfit to drive or walk on safely. Could you find out why this hasn’t been, or if it will ever be, made into a decent, safe street to drive on?

The North Las Vegas Public Works Department has plans to improve Simmons, but the immediate work will not be done on the stretch of the road Lee is most concerned about. Within the next month, the city plans to start widening Simmons to two lanes in each direction between Carey and Cheyenne avenues. A designated right-turn lane from Simmons to westbound Carey is part of the project. Also included in the work will be a new sidewalk on the west side of Simmons.

And here we go again with that funding thing. The city also plans to make improvements to Simmons and add sidewalks between Cheyenne and Craig Road. That is not expected to happen until 2014 at the earliest.

Paul sees the lights: What are the little blue and red lights on the poles that support traffic lights? The ones I’ve seen are both lit at the same time and I can’t detect any pattern correlating with the traffic signals. They are about 10 feet up, above the buttons pedestrians press to get a signal to cross. There is no signage associated with them. Just curious.

Paul and I went back and forth on these lights, so I thank him for his patience and willingness to gather more information. With the help of my friends in law enforcement, I believe I have found an answer for you, Paul. These lights indicate when motorists have run a red light; one light is for traffic moving in one direction, and the other is for the opposite direction. These lights help officers determine whether a motorist has run a red traffic signal.

Diane asked for a clarification: One thing that has not been addressed that bothers me is the law pertaining to a pedestrian stepping off the curb into a crosswalk of a four-lane street with no median and the motorist is making a right-hand turn on that street — a great distance away from the pedestrian. I would appreciate clarification on the law regarding this issue.

We talked a lot about crosswalks last week, but not about roads without medians. If a road is four lanes wide with no median, then the motorist making a right-hand turn must wait until the pedestrian reaches the other side of the street. A center lane marked by yellow lines is considered a median.

Jim and a few other readers shared a follow-up question to Sunday’s column: How can the Nevada Motor Transport Association make the argument that heavier trucks do not pose a greater danger to motorists in passenger vehicles? Trucks that carry heavier loads need more time and space to stop.

The Association’s CEO, Paul Enos, addressed this issue. He said that each axle on a truck can carry up to 20,000 pounds. So, if the law is changed so that trucks can carry up to 97,000 pounds, the trucks will have more axles, meaning more brakes. “The stopping time is compromised, but it is compensated by having additional brakes with those axles.”

Just as a side note, Boulder City Police Chief Thomas Finn disagreed, saying that this theory might work with newer trucks, but the braking concerns still exist with older trucks.

Contact reporter Adrienne Packer at apacker@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904.