Effort under way to slow traffic in neighborhood

Sito Negron

Monday, July 12, 2004 | 10:32 a.m.

St. Louis Avenue may soon become the latest piece of downtown residents' push to take charge of its surroundings.

In this case, it's the neighborhoods north of Sahara Avenue, east of Las Vegas Boulevard, and south of Charleston Boulevard that are working with the city of Las Vegas to slow traffic on St. Louis, while at the same time making it more accessible to pedestrians and bikers and adding artistic touches.

"We have very active neighborhood associations there," Councilman Gary Reese said. "It (the neighborhood) is close to downtown, and it's also close to the Strip, and they support projects that are good for the neighborhood and oppose those they think might hurt the neighborhood."

There are multiple neighborhood associations representing about 2,000 households within the area bounded by Charleston, Las Vegas, Sahara and Maryland Parkway.

The associations worked with the city to measure traffic in their neighborhoods, and along St. Louis, through the Neighborhood Traffic Management program, said city traffic engineer Jorge Cervantes.

He said residents came up with some solutions -- for example, signs forbidding bus and limousine cut-through traffic, adding new stop signs, and placing speed humps -- as well as the larger plan for St. Louis Avenue.

Cervantes said similar efforts elsewhere in the city involved residents at Peccole Ranch who successfully requested a traffic circle to be installed in several months at Apple and Red Hills drives, and bike lanes that connect green belts at the Lakes.

While it's not unheard of for residents to promote traffic-calming plans for their neighborhoods, the people around St. Louis took it to another level, Cervantes said.

"It's a group that meets often ... they're very organized," he said. "That makes cooperation easier."

Cervantes said there were fewer cars than expected on St. Louis, but they consistently broke the speed limit.

"(St. Louis) is posted at 25 mph. We measured speeds there about 42-43 mph. We expected 20,000 to 30,000 cars per day, but we measured only 5,000 to 6,000," he said. Those numbers meant that a plan to narrow the street to bring down speeds would not damage the flow of traffic, he said.

The plan includes eliminating two of the four lanes, installing a median, and adding bike lanes and two turnarounds, essentially circles in the middle of an intersection that force drivers to slow down as they navigate the curve.

Reese said he was able to set aside $1.5 million from the city's capital improvements budget for the project.

City officials expect the design process for the project to be completed in a few months, but declined to predict when the project would be finished.

The neighborhood is key to the city's downtown revitalization efforts. It's next to Las Vegas Boulevard, where the monorail extension to downtown is to run, and is within walking distance to the area designated as an Arts District.

"It is an older part of Las Vegas, and it is going to feel the repercussions of downtown development," Reese said.

Ben Contine, president of the Beverly-Green Neighborhood Association, which is one of the groups working on the St. Louis project, said the process was similar to the development of Huntridge Circle Park. In that case, his group and others in the area worked with the city to design the $1.5 million park.

"I think the city likes it when neighbors get involved," Contine said. "When something is neighborhood driven it will be more successful, residents will take ownership."