LV council grapples with conflicting plans for Alta

Diana Sahagun

Monday, Oct. 1, 2001 | 9:57 a.m.

Information

At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, the council will hold a special meeting at Howard Wasden Elementary School, 2837 Palomino Lane, to discuss a resolution that would allow preliminary plans for the improvements. The council will decide Wednesday whether to adopt the resolution and direct the Public Works Department to begin drafting the plans.

Councilman Michael McDonald has hailed the Alta plans as "preservation versus progress," while other council members have stressed the importance of maintaining traffic flow, especially to downtown.

McDonald said last week that since the issue was first raised at a council meeting Sept. 5, he has addressed individual concerns about traffic and safety lanes, and says a compromise can be made.

During a drive with McDonald along Alta last week, the complaints lodged by the residents who have been pushing for the improvements were clear. Cars straddling the two-lane road passed each other on the right using the shoulder, speeding through school zones. With no sidewalks along Alta, children walked in the street.

McDonald's proposal would ensure Alta remains a two-lane street by adding sidewalks and a meandering road that would shrink the street to 24 feet, from 80 feet now. Since the Sept. 5 meeting, McDonald has added emergency lanes and road cut-outs for trash pickup and mail service to the plan.

The proposal calls for 37 residents facing Alta to pay for landscaping and maintenance through a special improvement district, estimated at $65,000 a year for 10 years. Total construction for the improvements is estimated to be $1.8 million and funded through Clark County and the city.

"We're designating this back to a neighborhood," McDonald said.

Councilmen Michael Mack and Larry Brown have urged caution before making the improvements. Brown said the effects on transportation must be clear.

City traffic planners estimate 18,000 cars a day travel along Alta. The street has a total capacity of 20,000 cars per day. With the addition of a meandering road and the elimination of turn lanes, planners estimate the capacity would be 16,000 cars per day.

Mack, who sits on the Regional Transportation Commission, said Alta has always been envisioned as a major arterial, and decreasing the size of the street would create traffic problems. He has called the meandering street a "barf bag route" for bus passengers.

"My feeling is we should leave it alone and wait until things are built out, then let's look at what the needs are," Mack said.