Guard rail project to start in 4 months

Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2002 | 9:47 a.m.

The state Transportation Department plans to start installing 10,000 feet of guard rails on U.S. 95 near Ann Road in the next four months, responding to the recent fatal crash that killed two people.

Agency officials decided late Friday to install the barriers, even though they are not required, after a crash along that stretch Las Vegas last Thursday claimed the lives of Spring Crothers, 23, and her son Austin, 4, DOT spokesman Bob McKenzie said.

"A key factor" came after officials studied traffic figures in the area that showed a 53 percent jump in vehicles using that part of U.S. 95 -- from 44,380 vehicles a day in 1998 to 67,780 now.

"Our office in Carson City looked at the situation and made the decision," McKenzie said.

"While the area already meets all the necessary safety standards, in light of the tragedy it was decided to install 10,000 feet of guardrail on the inside lanes of both north and southbound U.S. 95 from North Lone Mountain Road to north of Ann Road," he said.

A combination of huge increases in traffic and five deaths in 14 months on a stretch of U.S. Highway 95 near Ann Road pushed the department's decision.

No other roads in the Las Vegas Valley are being looked at for guard rails in the wake of last week's accident but McKenzie added, "our engineers are always looking at roads for safety factors."

The guardrail project should begin in about four months and cost $300,000.

Witnesses said Crothers lost control of her minivan while traveling south on U.S. 95 after she swerved to avoid a tire tread in her lane and then overcorrected. Her vehicle went into northbound traffic, where it slammed into a dumptruck.

Crothers' other son Gage, 16 months, suffered only minor injuries.

Services for the mother and 4-year-old son will be held 10:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, 131 N. 9th St.

They are survived by husband and father James, son and brother Gage, father and grandfather Edward DeRosia Sr., mother and grandmother Lynne DeRosia, and Spring Crothers' brothers, Edward, Shawn and David and sister Holly Crothers.

The accident occurred about 1,000 feet from the scene of another crash in which a vehicle crossed the same freeway median and collided with northbound traffic.

In April 2001 Mitchell Dettloff was driving his car onto southbound U.S. 95 at Ann Road when he collided with a pickup carrying a family. The impact sent the vehicle across the highway into oncoming traffic, where it struck a truck. Three people died in that crash.