Unravel the traffic knot at rush hour

Thursday, March 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

THE Las Vegas City Council this week ordered an array of improvements to ease worsening traffic congestion in a belated, but laudable admission that previous answers to the problem have not been working.

The council approved traffic improvements on surface arterials to add lanes and keep the traffic moving. Decatur Boulevard, Lake Mead Boulevard, Rainbow Boulevard and Washington Avenue will have no parking zones along certain sections to effectively widen the traffic lanes.

Other improvements include: adding a turn lane at Rancho Drive and U.S. 95, blocking Bonanza Road west of Rancho and imposing mandatory right turns at certain intersections. State transportation officials will be asked to consider closing the on-ramp at Martin Luther King Boulevard and U.S. 95 and installing on-ramp signals at Lake Mead at U.S. 95. City employees who agree to ride CAT buses will receive passes.

These improvements will no doubt help the traffic moving on the north and west sides of the city. It also will ease the aggravation on U.S. 95 during rush hour.

But we wonder if a patchwork approach in a city growing by 5,000 residents a month will be nearly enough. Las Vegas has been undergoing a tremendous road construction program, part of it funded by voter-approved bonds. But major road construction projects take time and lots of money. Often, by the time they're finished, the improvements have been offset by further increases in traffic.

Despite its traffic problems, Las Vegas remains one of the few cities of its size -- perhaps the only one with similar growth problems -- that has not designated special routes and traffic lanes to handle rush hour. Other cities, such as Phoenix, use one-way streets and specially timed traffic lights to whisk the worst of the traffic to and from commercial areas.

All these improvements may come to naught if another aspect of the city's plan -- installing traffic lights at 36 more intersections -- is not integrated into effective, speed-timed traffic control. A computer-driven system planned by the end of this year will certainly help, but more drastic solutions may be in order. One-way arterials and banning left turns at some intersections could reduce delays considerably.

An effective traffic control system also may make the streets safer. Lights timed at the speed limit will remove any advantage for drivers who like to race from one stoplight to another.

Not only does the irritating stop-and-wait rankle drivers and increase road hazards, if worsens pollution in the valley. The most ambitious traffic program simply will not work if the traffic can't keep moving at a reasonable rate of speed.

It just may be that the traffic engineers won't be able to keep up with the onslaught of new residents if the present rate of growth continues. The cost of that growth, in dollars and quality of life, just may require other solutions -- just as an off-street public transportation system.

After all, the traffic is not just irritating and sometimes dangerous. How we handle the problem will affect the desirability of the community we live in.