Drive time less than national average

Stephen Curran

Thursday, March 31, 2005 | 11:04 a.m.

It may be tough for the scores of drivers who spent much of this morning on Southern Nevada's traffic-clogged highways to believe, but their commutes aren't nearly as bad as their counterparts' in most other counties, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report.

Researchers, using information gathered monthly to compile the Census Bureau's annual American Community Survey, found the average Nevada driver spent 21.8 minutes stuck in traffic each day, putting the Silver State in the bottom half of the nation. Clark County motorists, with an average 22.7-minute commute, fared slightly worse, but were still almost two full minutes shorter than the nation's average 24.3-minute drive.

Drivers in Las Vegas, who make up the bulk of the state's commuters, however, face an average 24.7-minute commute each day, according to the study. That put Las Vegas 24th of 68 cities surveyed.

Ingrid Reisman, a spokeswoman for the Regional Transportation Commission, said the city's figures were in line with what planners had expected. They underscore a need for a series of transit options, including a possible 33-mile regional fixed-guideway system currently being studied by the agency, she said.

"It does validate where the (Clark County) Growth Task Force and the RTC is headed," Reisman said. "Transportation and transit options are critical."

As in most metropolitan areas, planners in Clark County have focused their efforts primarily on curtailing increases in traffic congestion on local roads, she said.

The goal, Reisman added, is to provide commuters with options to get where they're going.

They're the kind of improvements that would likely be music to Kim Love's ears. A Las Vegas resident for 20 years, Love, an area supervisor for the Hair Masters salon, spends up to 45 minutes each morning commuting to that chain's 12 stores.

Particularly bad was a stretch of U.S. 95 near the Rainbow Curve, an area she sees several times a week. If the ranking were up to her and not the Census Bureau, Clark County would likely have not fared as well in the nationwide breakdown.

"I'm surprised because the town is growing so fast and the freeway system is horrible," Love said.

But for Pam Cole, the business's Seattle-based regional manager in town this week, Las Vegas' traffic was a relief.

A regular commuter in her hometown, Cole estimated it takes far longer there to get from Point A to Point B but sees Southern Nevada's roads beginning to increasingly resemble those in the Pacific Northwest city.

"Nothing is worse than Seattle," she said of the city that ranked 16th, eight spots worse than Las Vegas. "That's the worst traffic in the world. But it seems like Vegas is getting that way."

Meanwhile Clark County ranked 136th of the 233 counties surveyed, according to the Census Bureau. Queens County, N.Y.'s 41.7-minute commute put that area at the top of the list, while Nueces County, Tex., with roughly one-fifth the number of residents as Southern Nevada, was at the bottom, with 16.3 minutes.

Other Southwest areas with long commutes were Maricopa County, Ariz., which recorded an average 24.7-minute commute, and Riverside County, Calif., whose drivers spent an average of more than 30 minutes in traffic.