Spotted a busted road sign? Make the right call

A reader called a couple weeks ago to complain about a stop sign in his neighborhood. The sign was so faded from the sun, he said, it is a traffic hazard.

I wrote his question down on a scrap of paper, maybe the back of an envelope.

And then I lost it. So I have no idea what his name was or what part of town he was in.

Doesn’t matter, though, because it got me thinking. What should you do if you see a road sign that has been damaged so badly it’s dangerous?

I have that answer, plus a few more, so stick around.

What should you do when you spot a damaged road sign?

If you’re in the city of Las Vegas, you should call the Traffic Department at 229-6331.

If you’re in Henderson, you have a couple of options. You can go to the city’s website at cityofhenderson.com and look for the purple "Contact Henderson" button down at the bottom of the page.

Or, if you’re tech-savvy, download the city’s iPhone app. You can take a picture of the offending sign and attach it to your message. You’ll even be able to track the city’s progress in dealing with your complaint and get a notification when it’s fixed.

If you’re in North Las Vegas, you should call 633-1264.

If you’re in unincorporated Clark County, you can report the problem to public works by phone at 455-6000 or via email: InTheWorks@ClarkCountyNV.gov.

If you don’t know which city you’re in, go here: gisgate.co.clark.nv.us/openweb. You should go there anyway. It’s a fun site to play around with.

John asked: Why is the speed limit 35 mph on Buffalo Drive, between Charleston Boulevard and Sahara Avenue. South of Sahara it is 45 mph and north of Charleston it is 45 mph, and if you try to go 35 mph during heavy traffic you get ran over.

Diana Paul with the city of Las Vegas wrote this when I asked her via email: "The segment of Buffalo between Charleston and Sahara is reduced to 35 mph because the corridor has houses that front Buffalo and back out onto the street and because we allow parking along the All American Park curb frontage as well as along an area at the north end where apartments have no other place to park. We generally try to keep speed limits at 35 or less on corridors where on-street parking is allowed."

Ann and Wayne asked: Will they ever make off- and on-ramps from Durango Drive to Summerlin Parkway? You can only go east to get onto Summerlin Parkway and can only get off when you are going west on Summerlin Parkway.

Paul wrote this in response: "There are no ramps planned to/from the west at the Durango interchange because the spacing between the Rampart off/on ramps would be too close to make those ramps work without using very expensive ‘braided ramp bridge structures’ to separate the movements. Also, the volumes for those movements are too low at this time to warrant the very high cost."

Sara wrote: A lot has been written in the Road Warrior column for the past few years about the Volunteer Boulevard/Executive Airport/Via Inspirada intersection in Henderson. The traffic light is finally operational, but now it has caused another problem. There is no right turn lane from eastbound Volunteer to southbound Via Inspirada (there are right turn lanes in the other 3 corners) and traffic backs up during the afternoon rush hour when the first car at the light is going straight. Are there any plans to put in a right turn lane?

Kathleen Richards with the city wrote this: "The City does not have sufficient rights (of way) to construct a right-turn-only lane on eastbound Volunteer at Via Inspirada and would have to acquire property from the owner on the southwest corner of the intersection. We did not acquire those rights at the time we widened Volunteer because the SB5 funding that financed the project had schedule requirements that did not allow for the time it would take to acquire the property. We will be looking to acquire the right-of-way with any future roadway construction funds we may obtain."

Patty asks: My auto registration renews in August. Is there any way to have it changed permanently to renew in a winter month so it doesn’t interfere with summer travels?

Kevin Malone, a spokesman for the DMV, said come on down. They’ll fix you right up.

"That’s an easy one," he said in an email. "The customer should come in and do an early renewal on whatever date she would like the registration to expire. Say she renewed on August 15. If she wants the registration to expire on October 15, she would do an early renewal on October 15. The DMV would give her a credit for the unused portion of the registration, so she would pay only for the two months from August 15 to October 15. One catch, though, is that the emissions inspection is good for only 90 days. She will need a new test if the last one is more than 90 days old. Another is that it has to be done in person at a DMV office."

I’ll end on a personal note here: I’ll be moving on from my short gig as the Road Warrior to cover more general news in and around town. Joe Hawk, who most recently served in the Review-Journal’s sports department, will be taking over. You’re in good hands.

If you have traffic questions or gripes, email them to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com.