Poor roads wearing down the cars of Nevada drivers

Tuesday, March 21, 2000 | 11:08 a.m.

Because nearly two-thirds of Las Vegas' metropolitan area roads are in fair to poor condition, each motorist spends $111 more a year on vehicle operation costs than they would if the streets were in good shape, a new report says.

The report released today by The Road Information Program, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit transportation research group, found that one-third of the major roads in the nation's 50 largest metropolitan areas have significant deterioration and need resurfacing or reconstruction. The report says 19 percent of the 69,096 miles of major roads in the nation's 50 largest metropolitan areas are in poor condition, 19 percent are in mediocre condition, 29 percent are in fair condition and 33 percent are in good condition.

In Las Vegas, Seven percent of Las Vegas' roads are in poor condition, 16 percent are in mediocre condition, 43 percent are in fair condition and 34 percent are in good condition.

The report does not distinguish whether those roads are in the city of Las Vegas or in Clark County, where the Strip and other major thoroughfares are located.

"We have an aggressive preventative program and have been aware of these numbers for some time," said Nancy Ruth, maintenance manager for the city of Las Vegas. "Our goal is to keep the streets in good condition. Streets that are in poor condition are -- as we have the funding available -- completely rebuilt."

The city estimates it has 319 miles of urban roads, 277 miles of which are in good condition, 25 miles in fair condition, 17 miles in poor condition.

Statistics, however, are deceiving. Using those same stats one could argue that Las Vegas roads are in OK shape by noting that 77 percent of the 521 miles of local metropolitan streets are in fair to good condition.

The report indicates that Las Vegas streets are in about the middle of the pack when compared to the other 50 metropolitan centers.

While the report says Las Vegans are paying $111 more in additional annual vehicle operation costs, Atlanta pays just $21 more while New Orleans pays $208 additional dollars. In the West, Phoenix area residents $35 more per year and Los Angeles residents paying $188 more in annual vehicle operation costs.

The report's recommendations include an aggressive pothole repair program, timely road repairs and adequate investment of funds to insure that 75 percent of local road surfaces are in good shape.