Friday, May 21, 2004 | 9:40 a.m.
Traveling Boulder Highway from downtown Las Vegas to the edge of Boulder City could be a smoother trip for drivers, riders and bicyclists.
A new study proposes creating designated bus-service lanes, adjusting traffic patterns at several difficult intersections, and providing a designated bicycle and pedestrian path.
The recommendations, presented to the Regional Transportation Commission board on Thursday, come from a $250,000 study of the so-called Boulder Highway corridor done by the national engineering company Parsons Brinckerhoff.
Boulder Highway was one of the main roads out of town before Interstate 515, also known as U.S. 95, opened up alongside it. Now Boulder Highway, which RTC officials say is ripe for upgrades, is a wide thoroughfare dotted with casinos, bars, and apartments rented by the week and month.
"Where else do we have an opportunity with an enormous facility and growing population and large numbers of pedestrians and cyclists," Jerry Duke, an RTC assistant planning manager, said. "It's just right for a redevelopment of Boulder Highway."
The study's recommendations for the 17-mile stretch of Boulder Highway, including a piece of Fremont Street that becomes Boulder Highway at Sahara Avenue, were:
developing a curb-side bus, or other rapid transit, lane from Sahara Avenue to College Drive with 22 stops.
making minor changes at several intersections, including where Boulder Highway intersects with Mojave Road, Sahara Avenue, Desert Inn, Nellis Boulevard, Sunset Road, Lake Mead Drive and Horizon Drive.
creating a 10-foot wide path for pedestrians and bicycles from Sahara Avenue to College Drive.
studying further the so-called Five Points Intersection, where Boulder Highway meets Eastern Avenue and Charleston Avenue.
Duke said even the easiest of the recommendations, proposed changes to several intersections, would take a year to complete. And moving forward with the other recommendations would take years, he said.
Only the suggestion to put a bus or other mass transit vehicle in a dedicated lane has an estimated price tag attached to it: $41.5 million. And none of the recommendations have suggested funding sources at this time, he said.
Duke said that bus system could be something similar to the Metropolitan Area Express, or MAX, system that is expected to begin service on Las Vegas Boulevard between downtown and Nellis Air Force Base this summer. The MAX system is a hybrid of light-rail train and bus that will use dedicated lanes to traverse the highway.
One bit of good news, Duke said, is that all the recommended changes could be done within the existing boundaries of Boulder Highway, meaning additional land wouldn't need to be purchased.
Also, by using existing breakdown lanes and the shoulders of the road, plus sidewalks, for the proposed bus and pedestrian/bicycle lanes, the existing traffic lanes on Boulder Highway wouldn't be affected, he said. For the most part, Boulder Highway has three lanes in each direction for vehicle traffic, he said.
"This would all be done with just a reconfiguration" of the existing lanes and road, Duke said.
"We could be offering motorists and residents an opportunity beyond what they have now," he said.
Roger Tobler, a Boulder City Councilman and RTC board member, said the recommended changes probably are necessary, but they could be costly.
"The whole area does need attention. We do have a lot of pedestrians and we need to do something to improve the bus system there," Tobler said. "The plans looked very nice, but obviously it's going to take a lot of money."
Erin Breen, director of the Safe Community Partnership, a transportation safety outreach program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said the recommendations "will have a huge price tag, but it would be worth it."
Breen said adding a designated bus lane, improving intersections, and creating a bicycle/pedestrian path along Boulder Highway, would make the road easier for everyone to travel there.
"Boulder Highway is a challenge, and the RTC is being extremely proactive with this," she said.
But, Breen said, in addition to the proposed changes that would probably greatly impact traffic flow, Boulder Highway also needs better-lit crosswalks for pedestrians and places on the medians for pedestrians trying to cross the wide road.
"Up and down Boulder Highway there are casinos, shops, and many places that rent by the day and week ... and there's an awful lot of people who walk out of necessity," Breen said. "These changes will make going north and south easier, but I'm worried about those heading east and west."
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