Sun editorial:

F Street fiasco

NDOT and Las Vegas officials should have done a better job of informing the public

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

When the nation’s interstate highway system took root, it was praised for the ease with which it allowed people to travel from one city to another. In some instances, though, the highways sliced long-standing neighborhoods in half and left some residents isolated from the rest of the community.

The ill-advised closing of F Street in Las Vegas last year — near where the road passes beneath Interstate 15 — had the effect of isolating the residents of historically black West Las Vegas from downtown’s Symphony Park. To many longtime residents of the neighborhood, this was merely the latest chapter in a decades-long series of moves designed to separate West Las Vegas from the rest of the city.

As reported by Sam Skolnik in Sunday’s Las Vegas Sun, taxpayers will have to pay $40 million to $70 million to reopen the street after the Nevada Legislature ordered the city and state to take corrective action.

One lesson from this blunder is that road projects — in this case the Nevada Transportation Department’s planned widening of I-15 in conjunction with the city — often affect surrounding neighborhoods far more than planners anticipate.

In this case, a department mailer on the project was sent in 2006 only to homes within 400 feet of the planned construction site. According to Trish Geran, who fought the closure, a grand total of four residents got the mailer, which is pathetic. It is no surprise, then, that many neighborhood residents were caught off guard by the F Street closure. What good are public hearings if the notification is lousy?

The Transportation Department and the city should do a better job in the future of notifying neighborhoods of significant roadwork. Planned road closures in the center of town certainly qualify.

Discussion: 2 comments so far…

By Future

6/30/09 at 6:40 a.m.

Suggest removal

And where was the LV Sun reporting when all this happened.

Thanks for keeping us informed
By neiman1

6/30/09 at 8:50 a.m.

Suggest removal

It was not a blunder when F street was closed. It was done to cut off North Las Vegas from the rest of the city.