Henderson wants signs from airport

Jeff Schweers

Thursday, Jan. 30, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign, but none of them point to Henderson.

Henderson officials repeatedly have asked McCarran International Airport to put up signs pointing visitors to the fast-growing community of 136,000 residents, the third largest city in Nevada.

They said they've forked over millions in transportation taxes and still don't have a single sign sending tourists barreling down the southern leg of Las Vegas Beltway in their direction.

The airport has stalled, offering reasons for not putting up signs that don't make sense to Henderson officials and then sending them to the Nevada Department of Transportation for help.

"We were led to believe initially that we had to go to the state, but Nevada Transportation Director Tom Stephens' office said go to the airport," Henderson Mayor Bob Groesbeck said. "Meantime, people visiting our community are having a tough time getting out."

Noting the city paid about $4 million into the region's master transportation fund last year alone, Groesbeck said, "I don't think it's too much to ask for sufficient signage to get out of the airport."

Under pressure, Aviation Director Bob Broadbent said he will put up signs around the airport directing people to Henderson via Russell Road and the beltway.

"We're only going to put up a couple, but only on airport property," he said.

Broadbent said he'd prefer if the city coordinates with the airport by putting up signs on the section of the beltway and other roads leading to downtown Henderson.

"If somebody tells me to put them up, I will," Broadbent said. "If they put up signs on any part of that beltway that say Henderson, we'll follow suit within a couple of days."

Broadbent said he hesitated to put signs up until the beltway got as far as the Henderson city limits because it might confuse people being dumped off at the Warm Springs Road or Windmill Lane exits. The beltway passess over the city limits at the interchange planned for Pecos Road.

"People can't get confused," Groesbeck said, noting that the almost-completed Eastern Avenue interchange is one-tenth of a mile from the city limits.

County Public Works officials said they had tried to speed up the completion date for the next leg of the southern beltway to correspond with this weekend's fun run sponsored by KVBC Channel 3, but ran into traffic signal problems.

The interchange should be ready in a couple of weeks, the county said.

The real issue is getting people out of the airport and in the right direction, Groesbeck said.

"It's difficult enough with the existing signage," Groesbeck said. "There is no reference whatsoever to Henderson."