Friday, May 21, 2004 | 11:08 a.m.
A plan approved Thursday by the Regional Transportation Commission could make commuting easier for the roughly 230,000 drivers per day who drive on the congested Summerlin Parkway, RTC members say.
The RTC, at its meeting at the County Government Center, approved a plan to study a proposal to increase the number of lanes on the northwest Las Vegas thoroughfare to six, up from the current four. The move would literally pave the way for explosive growth expected in the region over the next two to three years, said Gary Johnson, manager of engineering for the RTC.
The $990,000 study, slated to take from nine months to a year, could be broken into two phases, with the first designed to improve the stretch from U.S. 95 to Rampart Boulevard in Summerlin, Johnson said.
The study, part of a total $13.2 million alloted for the project, was funded by Question 10, a $2.7 billion transportation tax package, approved by state legislators in 2002 and 2003.
The improvements are long overdue for Charles Ross, who manages a Summerlin cafe about 100 yards from Summerlin Parkway on North Buffalo Drive. In the four and a half years Ross has commuted from his home in Green Valley, Ross has seen his commute steadily increase.
It now takes him more than 30 minutes to travel the roughly 20 miles to work, he said. And, while widening the road would be an improvement, he questions its impact.
"They should have just made it wider when they put it in," he said while looking onto the highway. "They should have made it at least three lanes (on each side). It's just going to grow and grow and grow."
Ross' cafe is in the middle of the busiest stretch of Summerlin Parkway, Buffalo Drive to U.S. 95, a leg which handles about 103,000 vehicles each day, Johnson said.
And, with unrelenting growth forecast for the Las Vegas Valley, that daily traffic count number will only go up, Johnson said. In the next 15 to 20 years RTC engineers expect the number of cars to increase by up to 50 percent, he said.
But until the initial study is complete in about a year, Johnson said he couldn't predict how long Ross and other commuters would have to wait for the extra two lanes.
"Some of that (the improvements) would be needed in the next couple of years," Johnson said. "But as far as the widening is concerned I don't have a timetable."
At more than $13 million, the project would cost significantly less than other highway improvement projects in the Las Vegas Valley, including the more expensive construction on U.S. 95 he said.
With the expected influx, the temporary inconvenience of highway construction will be worth it, he said.
Meanwhile it's become a part of everyday life for Ross and his customers, who he says rarely complain about the near-gridlock most days.
"I think people are used to it," he said. "But I guess you can get used to even a bad thing."
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