Friday, Aug. 31, 2001 | 4:22 a.m.
If not for the Clark County Government Center gymnasium and its shower facilities, county right-of-way agent Dante Corso would not be commuting 10 miles to work on his bicycle.
"Our facilities are some of the best around," Corso said. "I couldn't be in front of the public in a sweaty body. There isn't that much cologne."
Many other commuters likely would pedal to work if they had the chance. The truth is, many local employees do not have showers, lockers and suitable bicycle parking at their work places to make such commutes possible.
If the Regional Transportation Commission has its way, the days of treating bicyclists and pedestrians in the Las Vegas Valley as second-class citizens are about to change. The commission has studied "alternative" transportation for the past five years. That effort has been accelerated with the release in July of a draft report that details the status of the valley's bike routes and walkways.
The commission hopes to conduct a bicycle ridership survey this fall and two public hearings with recommendations to be forwarded to the Clark County Commission and City Councils in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson. The result, expected within a year, could mean increased funding and better planning for those who rely on human power to get around town.
"This will not get buried under the rug," RTC assistant planning manager Jerry Duke said. "This alternative mode study is a reordering of priorities at the RTC that we have never seen before. More people say they want the same amenities they had in the previous places where they lived."
Increased emphasis by local authorities on alternatives to motor vehicles also could help the county decrease its pollution and reduce the chance of future penalties for violating federal air-quality guidelines.
Kimley-Hom and Associates Inc. of Las Vegas, which prepared the draft report, suggested four ways to enhance local bicycle and pedestrian transportation:
* Maximize the use of roadways and other rights of way.
* Encourage developers to include facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians.
* Identify alternative funding sources.
* Create a community mind-set that bicycle and pedestrian travel are viable modes of transportation.
The number of valley residents who ride bikes on a regular basis is unknown. But Duke said Citizens Area Transit buses carry on average of at least 35,000 bicycles a month.
Valley cyclists can use 490 miles of routes, nearly the distance to Los Angeles and back. These routes include 275 miles of roadways that bikes can share with motorists. The routes involve outer lanes that are at least 14 feet wide to the curb, as well as 130 additional roadway miles with "Share the Road" bicycle signs.
There are also 55 miles of bike lanes and 30 miles of other shared paths -- along the flood control corridor north of Vegas Drive between Rampart and Lake Mead boulevards, for example.
"The majority of bike lanes within the Las Vegas Valley are on roadways that have been striped in the last few years, and the striping is in adequate condition," the draft report stated. "A small network of bicycle lanes exist in both Green Valley and Summerlin. A few other streets with significant lengths of bicycle lanes are West Charleston, Boulder Highway and Alta Drive."
Many barriers
But cyclists said the lack of paths connecting subdivision bike routes to major valley thoroughfares is one of many barriers they face. They also want longer bicycle lanes, wider outer lanes to accommodate cycling and cleaner streets to avoid tire damage, as well as end-of-commute amenities at work.
Debris that escapes the attention of motorists, such as tiny shards of broken glass and needle-like steel threads left behind by worn radial tires, are commonplace along many of the curbside routes taken by valley cyclists. Corso said something as simple as increased street sweeping could make it safer to ride a bike.
Kent Costin, who manages the Las Vegas Wheelmen Internet website, can rattle off names of numerous streets he considers hazardous to fellow cyclists because of design flaws or inadequate striping. About the only east-west route he trusts is Desert Inn Road, "and even that gets a little hairy," he said.
"We need an organized set of bike routes that make sense," Costin said. "A lot of them end at inopportune points. One example is Warm Springs Road (in Henderson). There's a bike lane only from Pecos to Stephanie. I would stripe it all the way from Las Vegas Boulevard to Boulder Highway.
Dangerous
"I would never ride Nellis Boulevard from Boulder Highway to Las Vegas Boulevard. It's about as dangerous as it can be. There's no emergency lane, and there are these big drainage ditches on the side of the road. They're not level with the pavement in most cases. You can get your wheels stuck in one of them and go over the handlebars."
Portland, Ore.; Seattle; Phoenix; and San Diego are considered by transportation experts to be good examples of large cities that have created successful plans for bicycle and pedestrian travel. About 10 years ago, Portland began to reduce motor vehicle lanes from some major arterials so that those routes could also be safely used by cyclists and pedestrians.
That was one of many points driven home by Michael Ronkin, bicycle-pedestrian program director for the Oregon Transportation Department. Ronkin conducted a workshop for local transportation officials at UNLV last month.
"The most important thing you could do first is to look at extremely wide streets," Ronkin said. "Do you have to have these streets only for vehicles 24 hours a day, seven days a week?
"Frankly, Las Vegas doesn't have enough streets. You put all your eggs into one basket. That's why your streets are busy all the time. You're not giving people any choices."
Corso said many residential developments are also poorly designed from a cyclist's perspective because of narrow, winding roadways.
"I worry about the kids trying to ride their bikes in front of their homes," Corso said. "The streets in planned communities are narrowing to the point where kids are not learning how to ride a bike where two cars are passing each other."
The draft report stated that some of the shared paths used by cyclists and pedestrians are burdened by inconsistencies involving stop signs, striping and barriers.
"The section of shared use path along U.S. 95 between Mojave and Seventh Street exists, but signage and pavement conditions have deteriorated to a substandard level," the report stated. "The section along U.S. 95 between Decatur and Rainbow has also deteriorated to a substandard level. However, this section of shared use path will be rebuilt as part of the U.S. 95 widening project."
The uneven distribution of suitable bike routes throughout the valley was also addressed in the draft report.
"Bicycle lanes, shared use paths and enhanced sidewalk facility networks are more prominent in the newer developed communities and do not exist throughout the valley, and especially do not exist (in) the older areas of town," the report stated.
"As is typical in many communities, residents in the older areas are more likely to use nonmotorized modes of transportation. The facilities to encourage more nonmotorized travel do not currently exist in those areas."
One proposal in the report is to update local government ordinances to better address bicycles as a form of travel.
"Clark County and the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas require bicycles to have an audible device, such as a bell," the report stated. "This obscure code requirement places a vast majority of the bicycling public in violation of municipal code."
Any major improvements to bicycle and pedestrian routes will emphasize safety, Duke said.
Statewide bicycle crashes involving vehicles declined from 776 in 1997 to 756 in 1999. Injuries also dipped from 794 to 788. But in Clark County, crashes rose from 569 to 582, and injuries increased from 584 to 610 over that three-year period. The county also had 15 of the state's 21 bicycle fatalities from 1997 to 1999.
Leading cause
The leading cause of those crashes involved cyclists crossing at intersections with no signals, followed closely by individuals riding against traffic. The peak time for bicycle crashes in 1999 was from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Of the 12 most-common crash locations in the valley involving bicycles, seven were along Flamingo Road between Jones Boulevard and Maryland Parkway.
"For me to bike to work they would have to make West Tropicana safer," Maggie Saunders, pedestrian and bicycle safety coordinator for UNLV's Safe Community Partnership, said. "The road surface is very rough and bumpy.
"I would like to see more bike lanes. We have bike lanes that abruptly stop and start again. You're peddling along and all of a sudden you have to merge into traffic."
Safe Community Partnership Director Erin Breen said local pedestrians have different concerns, chief among them is a lack of wide sidewalks along major thoroughfares.
"We have a lot of narrow sidewalks taken up by news racks and power poles," Breen said. "We have an incredible number of driveways for businesses, and that makes it uncomfortable for pedestrians. It puts you at such an odd angle that you either have to go into the street or your calf muscles kill you."
There were 1,043 crashes involving Nevada pedestrians struck by vehicles in 1999, a 65 percent increase from the 632 such accidents in 1991. The 1999 crashes killed 71 pedestrians and injured 1,086. The single greatest cause, accounting for 28 percent of the accidents, involved pedestrians who were jaywalking where there were no marked crossings.
As with bicycles, crashes involving pedestrians occurred most frequently from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., with the greatest number of victims involving men 35 to 44. Among females, the largest number of accidents involved girls 10 to 15. The most accidents involving pedestrians occurred on Wednesdays and Fridays; the fewest accidents involving pedestrians occurred on Sundays.
Of the 16 most-common crash locations involving pedestrians, six were along Maryland Parkway and five were along the Las Vegas Strip.
"We don't provide enough street crossings, especially along major streets that are difficult to cross," Breen said. "We've designed our streets for the car. The car is the king of the Southwest. Until we take a different view there's no incentive to get out of your car, and we'll have more traffic and pollution."
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