Columnist Susan Snyder: Consultant learned from the streets

Friday, Aug. 17, 2001 | 4:37 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column also appears Tuesdays and Fridays in the Las Vegas Sun. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

Michael Ronkin took a good look at Las Vegas last weekend.

He looked from the front seat of a car, from a stroll down its sidewalks and from 45 feet straight up in the air.

"You've got streets that are too wide, and intersections that are too far apart," he said. "You need more streets."

Yep, he said "more streets."

Ronkin's day job is bicycle-pedestrian program director for the Oregon Department of Transportation. But he's also a consultant who travels to cities where engineers want to learn how to build a better road.

He spent last weekend looking at Las Vegas intersections and streets, snapping digital photographs and watching how pedestrians and cyclists maneuvered. He studied them at ground level and from a boom truck bucket perched high above the pavement.

Monday he launched into a three-day seminar for Nevada engineers and pedestrian planners, which was sponsored by the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety and conducted at UNLV.

Ronkin says Las Vegas's road system relies too heavily on huge arterials and subdivisions with curving, meandering streets that connect to nothing. It needs more medium-size streets and grid-type neighborhoods that provide options. Such streets allow shorter trips for everyone -- those who walk, pedal and drive.

"A lot of the miles people put on in their cars in Las Vegas are useless miles," Ronkin said.

Ronkin's presentation was big on specifics using Las Vegas intersections as examples. Even simple changes such as moving lane stripes, re-configuring medians and removing sidewalk obstacles such as newspaper boxes, bus shelters and poles can make big differences.

"It's incredible to hear that to get these bus shelters off the sidewalks you'd have to acquire more land on the widest streets in the world," Ronkin said.

Medians with pedestrian signals can provide safe havens and allow the option for crossing wide roads in sections. Narrowing existing travel lanes and adding bicycle lanes does more to control motorists' speeds than speed limit signs, he said. Space for cars isn't lost. Space for other modes of travel is added.

The Strip offers some of Las Vegas' best examples of pedestrian facilities, but for tourists rather than residents.

"The casinos are out-classing you," Ronkin said. "Bring some sanity back to your streets so bicyclists, pedestrians, the UPS delivery guy and other people can use the roads."

Nationally, pedestrians began falling from the road designer's psyche during the 1950s and '60s, he said. Engineers applied to urban areas the principles of high-speed, rural interstates. Drivers now expect fast, unobstructed travel everywhere.

"It is incorrect to think the sole purpose of a road is to get traffic there as fast as possible," Ronkin said.

Addressing the expectations of motorists and ignoring those of pedestrians and bicyclists typically means no one gets what's expected or wanted. The right kind of road can help urban motorists expect and accept mingling with others.

And eventually the sidewalk cafes, quirky shops and walkable streets Las Vegans seek on their vacations will exist in their hometown.

"You need to start creating places for yourselves," Ronkin said.