RTC has plan to save time, money by easing traffic congestion

Jacob Snow

Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008 | 2 a.m.

In August, Brian Greenspun turns over the Where I Stand column to guest writers. Today’s columnist is Jacob Snow, general manager of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada.

What do you value more: time or money? For most of us, both are important and trading off either one is difficult.

With gas prices still near the $4-per-gallon mark, the convenience of driving is costing us a small fortune each week. While transit service is an affordable option for many, the time it takes to get to many places in the Las Vegas Valley means that trip is costing commuters a lot in time.

The Regional Transportation Commission is embarking on an ambitious plan that will redefine transit service in Southern Nevada and provide a transit system that places a premium on what most of us value: our time.

The RTC board, headed by Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, recently approved a plan to speed up transit service, perhaps the most significant thing we can do to make transit more attractive and better suited to commuters.

The plan includes developing a series of park-and-ride lots throughout the valley with fast, limited-stop service to key employment areas. The service will be developed to provide commutes that are competitive with the automobile for many trips into and out of the busiest parts of the community.

The redeployment of the service will reduce by half the time it takes to go from the northwest part of the valley into downtown Las Vegas or the Strip.

The plan includes the development of the ACE rapid transit system. ACE will feature fast service that operates in dedicated lanes, similar to a light rail line.

If you’ve traveled on Grand Central Parkway recently, you’ve seen the dedicated lanes under construction in the center of the roadway. Those lanes will allow ACE to provide faster, more frequent service without interference from other vehicles.

ACE will also feature comfortable platforms for passengers to wait, ticket vending machines that make it easy to purchase a fare and electronic arrival and departure information. While they don’t operate on a rail line, ACE vehicles have the look and feel of a rail car, but also the flexibility to go anywhere, allowing the service to be easily expanded as travel patterns in the valley evolve.

The system will combine the best of light rail service with the cost-effectiveness of a bus system. Phoenix is completing a light rail service that will cost $70 million a mile. The first phase of the RTC’s ACE system, which will open in downtown Las Vegas next year, will cost roughly that much for the entire route.

When the ACE Downtown Connector opens next year, it will run from Grand Central Parkway to Ogden Avenue, along Casino Center south to Charleston Boulevard. From there, it will make its way to the Las Vegas Convention Center and onto the Strip in mixed-flow traffic. ACE routes with dedicated lanes are also planned for Boulder Highway, Sahara Avenue, Flamingo Road, Maryland Parkway and North Fifth Street.

Many travelers have already seen the benefit of the RTC’s South Strip Transfer Terminal, a park-and-ride lot on Sunset Road with fast and convenient transit service to McCarran International Airport as well as to the Strip, Henderson, Warm Springs Road, Valley View Boulevard, Paradise Road and Koval Lane.

Four new park-and-ride lots are planned for the valley, two in the northwest and two in the southern part of the valley. The lot at U.S. 95 and Durango Drive is scheduled to open late next year and a second park-and-ride, at Summerlin Parkway and Durango, is scheduled to open in 2010. Both will feature well-lighted parking areas with an air-conditioned place to wait for the transit vehicle.

Express transit vehicles will use the car-pool lanes on U.S. 95 and will provide a fast trip into downtown Las Vegas, with continuing service into the resort corridor. Park-and-ride lots are also planned for the southern part of the valley near Las Vegas Boulevard and St. Rose Parkway and near Silverado Ranch and Dean Martin Drive. The RTC will also offer smaller park-and-ride lots throughout the valley, most via public-private partnerships, to offer additional express routes.

While transit may not replace every trip you take in a car, it can provide fast and convenient service for many of the trips we take today. The key is investing in technology, vehicles and the type of dedicated lanes that allow us to make transit faster and keep it affordable. I am confident we’re heading in that direction.