LV may get fed funding for pedestrian overpasses

Suzanne Struglinski

Monday, Sept. 22, 2003 | 11:01 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Las Vegas would get $300,000 in federal funding for new pedestrian overpasses downtown if the current version of the national transportation spending bill is approved.

Last year Nevada had the fifth highest pedestrian fatality rate in the nation.

Metro Police Lt. Wayne Petersen said this ability to separate pedestrian and vehicle traffic will help keep people safer.

The Las Vegas money was inserted into the Senate version of the bill by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Should the funds be approved by the Senate and in conference with the House, the money would go toward building pedestrian bridges that would link 61 acres under development in downtown Las Vegas with the monorail and bus lines transit terminal near Main Street and Bonneville Avenue.

Right now the Union Pacific Railroad track and Main Street separate the monorail stop and the 61 acres of land being developed as an academic medical center surrounded by residences and restaurants.

"With the construction of the monorail and the revitalization of downtown, more tourists will be able to easily reach attractions located there," Reid said. "Pedestrian overpasses, like the one at Tropicana and Las Vegas Boulevard, have proved to reduce the number of vehicle-pedestrian accidents on the Strip. It only makes sense to build them downtown as well."

Reid sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which approved the transportation spending bill on Sept. 11. He also sits on the committee's transportation that crafts the bill each year.

The House passed its version of the transportation spending bill on Sept. 9. Once the bill passes the Senate, members of each chamber will meet to work out differences between the two bills before sending it to the president.