Popular shortcut will get bumpy

Monday, Jan. 20, 2003 | 9:53 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council will consider a proposal on Wednesday that would discourage drivers from using what has long been a popular cut-through street.

The plan calls for the installation of speed bumps on Tam Drive from Boston Avenue to Northbridge Street just north of Sahara Avenue, based on a recommendation by the Meadows Village Task Force, which was created to improve conditions in the rundown and long-neglected city neighborhood west of the Stratosphere.

Motorists frustrated bysnarls on Las Vegas Boulevard South generally turn right on Baltimore Avenue and left on Tam to westbound Sahara Avenue, which links to Interstate 15.

A traffic study found that the average volume of traffic on Tam is 1,784 vehicles a day, with the average speed clocked at 37 mph in the 25 mph zone.

"Tam Drive is the classic cut-through street," Las Vegas Public Works Director Richard Goecke said. "We believe the speed bumps will slow traffic to at least the speed limit."

Goecke said the city would install five speed bumps along the street, each 14 feet wide from curb to curb and 3 inches high at the center.

"We just want to slow the traffic, not rattle people's teeth," Goecke said.

The council is expected to pass the measure. It is part of the "consent agenda," items considered routine and passed by a single vote without debate.

Some residents along Tam Drive are pleased with the plan to install the asphalt bumps.

"They should be helpful, especially with all of the kids who play in that street," said Tam resident John Miller. "Traffic is not the No. 1 issue in our neighborhood -- drug activity is the top priority -- but I'm still glad they are doing something about this because the cars come down that street so fast. The speed bumps the city installed on Boston seem to be working well."

Nancy Vance, a resident of Tam Drive since 1991, said her former neighbor's child was nearly hit by a car on that street.

"The taxicabs from the Stratosphere come down that street pretty fast and there are just so many kids out there from the Bonanza Garden Apartments," Vance said. "I've not seen one of them get hit, but I support the speed bumps because it will help prevent that from happening."