Editorial: Beltway needs more than just Band-Aids

Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2002 | 8:50 a.m.

The Clark County Public Works Department is reviewing all of the Las Vegas Beltway's lighted intersections that don't have advance warning signals to see if they should have a signal so that drivers would know there is an upcoming red light. Public Works Director Marty Manning said it's likely all six intersections without a warning signal would receive some type of one, but the engineering review could take a few months. We believe this review should be expedited, and the signals installed promptly, given the number of fatalities that have occurred at these intersections in the past year. It's clear that the signals improve safety. There have been no traffic deaths at three intersections where the signals have been installed -- two have been in place for a year and a third has been working for at least eight months.

But even the warning signals are just a baby step and don't address the underlying problem: the beltway's design, which is a frontage road pretending to be a freeway. Reckless drivers, traffic lights and ever-changing speed limits on the beltway all are factors that add to a deadly mix. Supporters of an advisory ballot question say that if the $2.7 billion tax initiative passes in November, $843.5 million would be devoted to completing the freeway within a decade instead of the 23 years it would take without the extra funding. Finishing the project in half the time is better than the current schedule, but we think that even the latest effort to accelerate the freeway's completion will be inadequate. County officials should consider an even faster schedule so that a beltway that really is a frontage road will quickly be transformed into a needed freeway.