By Launce Rake

Mon, Dec 19, 2005 (8:29 a.m.)

The Nevada Transportation Department is encouraging drivers over the holidays to take it easy on the roads, particularly on one stretch of roadway that has proven to be fatal for too many drivers.

State Route 159 through the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area winds through some of the most impressive natural scenery in Clark County, but its curves have been fatal for at least a half dozen bicyclists and drivers since the summer.

In July, Don Albietz, an off-duty Metro Police officer, was hit and killed by a trucker. Since then, there have been at least five more deaths on the road from vehicle crashes, said Maggie Saunders, coordinator of UNLV's alternative transportation program.

The primary danger, she and others say, stems from speed.

"The faster you go, the less time you have to react if you have a burro, a slower-moving vehicle, a cyclist on the road," Saunders said.

She said some of the curves that snake through Red Rock can be dangerous even at the posted 60 mph limit.

The best way to avoid problems, she said, is to take some easy precautions.

"Don't drink and drive. Give yourself a little more time to get where you're going," Saunders said. "The best Christmas present you could give us is no crashes, no fatals, no injuries."

Helen Fisher, founder of a group called the Nevada Scenic Byways Coalition and a friend of Metro's Albietz and his family, favors lower speed limits on the stretch of road, which is a state-designated scenic byway.

Fisher said the road can be especially treacherous during holidays.

"There are going to be so many people out there enjoying the conservation area," she said. "It is always extremely popular on weekends and holidays anyway. ... There's going to be all the cyclists, runners, hikers and dog walkers -- all those people are going to be out there at the same time that drivers have their days off."

Fisher said speed appeared to be a factor in all five deaths on the road since July.

The Transportation Department is expected to announce some short-term steps to make the road safer by mid-January, said Mary Martini, the department's district engineer. The agency has $400,000 for the improvements, which could include adding safety instruction signs to the 17 miles of road, re-striping portions of it or widening the shoulders of the road in some areas.

"We're going to focus in the next six months," Martini said. "We're really hoping to get done by spring."

The Transportation Department also is awaiting a private consultant's report on longer-term possibilities for making the road safer, including suggestions heard at a series of public meetings earlier this year. That report is expected to be completed in about one month.