Beware of HC

Monday, May 5, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Every day you pass signs while traversing Southern Nevada's roads and highways, probably without giving them much thought.

Some signs are so recognizable that you obey them on instinct. For instance, does a red octagon sign really need the word "STOP" on it for you to hit your brakes?

But what do you do when you approach a white rectangular sign with the black letters "HC" inside a red circle with a red slash through them?

Well, if you are carrying explosives, certain chemicals, gasoline or anything else that is dangerous, you better get off that road because it means "no hazardous cargo."

Motorists using the Desert Inn Super Arterial have been calling the SUN recently to ask what those HC signs mean, even though they have been posted at both ends of the road since it opened 13 months ago.

"We got a few calls of inquiry in the beginning, but none recently," said Herbert Arnold, chief of traffic engineers for Clark County. "It is a standard sign, but they are not common in this area.

"Truckers, however, know what they mean."

The signs are posted far enough away from the arterial that hazardous cargo haulers can get off before entering the artery that has a posted speed limit of 45 mph and no stop signals between Valley View Boulevard and Paradise Road.

"The reason they were posted is because we do not want vehicles like gasoline tankers traveling in the tunnel under the (Las Vegas) Boulevard," he said. "An accident involving such vehicles could easily cut the Strip in half."

The signs are so rare that they are posted on no other county-maintained roads, though there may be some on private roads within Clark County, Arnold said.

Scott Magruder, spokesman for the Nevada Department of Transportation, said he knows of no state roads where the no-hazardous-cargo signs are posted.

There are no signs posted in the county that feature the letters HC inside a green circle, meaning "hazardous cargo route." But should Yucca Mountain eventually be approved as the nation's nuclear waste dump, that sign could become very common here.

Arnold said while his department receives few calls regarding the HC signs, he does get inquiries about other signs and other things found in the roadway.

Perhaps the most common: "Is there a leeway over the posted speed limit?"

"I tell them, no, you can't go 60 in a 35 mph zone," Arnold said. "The posted speed limit is the fastest you are legally allowed to go."

Another common question: "What are the small round raised bumps on the lane lines called?"

To which Arnold responds: "Bots Dots. They are named after the man who invented them."

Others ask about the five-lamp traffic lights with the red stoplight on top and two rows of two lights below it.

"They require you to yield on a green light when turning left," Arnold said. "They are called Dog Houses because of their shape."