Amber Alert part of RTC proposal

Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2002 | 9:09 a.m.

The $2.7 billion tax initiative backed by regional transportation officials would pay for more than just new and improved roads throughout Southern Nevada.

The initiative also would pay for new freeway signs that could be incorporated into an Amber Alert system warning of abducted children, Regional Transportation Commission General Manager Jacob Snow said.

The signs are one of the more visible aspects of an integrated media blitz that can occur within hours of an abduction report, and are already used on freeways in California. While a Nevada task force is working to start a similar warning system here, there are only nine such freeway signs in Southern Nevada.

Snow said an advisory coalition has proposed putting up the illuminated signs on all of the region's freeways.

Ideally, one sign, which would include a short text message, would be placed over 70 miles of roadway.

The primary purpose of the signs is to advise motorists of road conditions such as traffic jams or accidents, part of a much larger RTC-backed system overhaul dubbed Intelligent Transportation Systems. But a flurry of well-publicized abducted or missing children has prompted media scrutiny of the signs as a front-line warning for commuters in their cars.

"We wouldn't want to limit it to traffic and roadway information," Snow said. The signs could be directly integrated with police emergency systems, allowing law enforcement to get the description of a suspect vehicle, for example, out quickly.

"It's become a topic of conversation," said Lt. Brad Simpson of the Metro Police missing persons detail. "The Amber Alert is a way to coordinate media systems. The use of the RTC and its signs is one aspect of it."

The biggest part of the Amber system would be coordinated information appearing through electronic media, he said. But the freeway signs could be an important adjunct to the media information because it would hit commuters.

"It would be a small part, but it is a part that has grabbed a lot of media notice," Simpson said.

The signs are not cheap, with a price tag of about $300,000 apiece, RTC spokeswoman Ingrid Reisman said.