Agreement is in works on maintaining crosswalks in the valley

Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006 | 7:27 a.m.

Schoolchildren and other pedestrians can relax a little when crossing streets in the valley. Las Vegas and Clark County authorities, embarrassed by a bureaucratic tangle that left an elementary school crossing unpainted for years, are striving for new procedures on crosswalks.

And they have painted that neglected crossing at a busy intersection near Elaine Wynn Elementary School.

The Las Vegas Sun reported Dec. 28 about the bureaucratic flaws that left the crosswalk without paint. Longtime crossing guard Bob DePalma, who works at the intersection of Pennwood Avenue and Decatur Boulevard, said he found a fresh coat of paint on the crosswalk Friday.

"I sure was surprised," DePalma said. "Up to now nobody's wanted to do anything. Everybody says it's somebody else's job."

County officials had argued that the city, which maintains the traffic signal lights at the intersection, was responsible for all of the crosswalks. But Las Vegas officials said the crosswalks to the west of Decatur fell within the county's boundaries.

"After the newspaper article came out, we got together and we're going to come up with an agreement to handle crosswalks," said Jorge Cervantes, assistant city traffic engineer for Las Vegas. "We looked at the way things were being done and agreed it might be confusing."

Cervantes sent his workers to repaint the crosswalks at 5 a.m. Friday. He also contacted his counterparts in North Las Vegas and Clark County to discuss the situation.

Adding to the problem is that routine maintenance schedules vary between agencies, Cervantes said.

"We might go out there (to an intersection) every September, and for the other guys it might be February or March," Cervantes said. "It makes more sense to have all the maintenance at the same time."

Cervantes drafted a new agreement, and North Las Vegas public works officials have already signed on. Cervantes said he hopes the county will accept the proposal as well. Henderson, whose boundaries are clear, is not part of the agreement.

Under the terms of the agreement, crosswalks at signalized intersections would be maintained by the agency that put in the signal lights. School crosswalks without accompanying signal lights would fall to the municipality in which the campus is located. As for the remaining crosswalks, those would be the responsibility of the original installers.

"It may be that crosswalk is no longer necessary or desirable and that's why it isn't being maintained," Cervantes said. "Each entity knows which crosswalks are active and which are inactive."

But pedestrians do not always know that, said Erin Breen, director of the Safe Community Partnership. The idea that crosswalks are intentionally allowed to fade -- in the hopes that people will eventually stop using them "infuriates me beyond belief," Breen said.

"It's the stupidest thing," Breen said. "People cross where it's the path of least resistance. Expecting them to walk a quarter-mile to the nearest intersection with a signal light is not realistic. We need to be making crosswalks safer for pedestrians, not taking them away."

Qiong Liu, associate director of public works for North Las Vegas, called Cervantes' proposal a sensible compromise.

"It's reasonable and easy to follow and will serve our citizens much better," Liu said.

Hector Garcia, chief of the Clark County School District Police, said he was pleased by the progress. Garcia is coordinating a new school zone safety task force, made up of representatives from law enforcement, public agencies and parent and community groups. The committee was the brainchild of Gina Greisen, a parent angered by the lack of coordination between entities about school traffic safety.

"This is exactly the type of cooperation and collaboration we're expecting to see from the task force," said Garcia, who will start his second year as chief next month. "People presume because a school zone immediately surrounds a campus that we're (the district) responsible. If we develop better communication with the other community partners, we're all going to see a lot more get done."

The task force's second public meeting is scheduled for from 10 a.m. to noon today at the School District's administrative building, 5100 W. Sahara Ave.

Emily Richmond can be reached at 259-8829 or at emily@lasvegassun.com.