Speak Out and Speak Up If You Want Local Government To Improve Bicycle Safety In Las Vegas

 

There are not too many lengthy paved trails around Las Vegas and Clark County but there is the 215 Beltway Trail, a ribbon of pavement that runs next to sections of the suburban highway that encircles the metro Las Vegas area.

A popular segment of the 215 Trail is in the western sprawling suburb of Summerlin, where the trail crosses busy Charleston Boulevard near the Red Rock hotel-casino. The problem is the trail crossing is neither a bridge nor a tunnel and crossing Charleston at grade is a dangerous endeavor because there are many motorists driving onto and off the 215 at ramps and turning right at red lights right into walkers and bicyclists who have the right-of-way to cross the road (after a lengthy wait).

I joined bicyclists Jen Hanks and Jared Fisher for a Channel 8 news report on this problem in December 2020. You can see the story here.  

That's why it's heartening to see construction of a 215 Trail tunnel going on now at Charleston. For a video look at the construction, click here.

Clark County is doing the work even though the city of Las Vegas is on the north side of Charleston. Kudos to Clark County Commission Justin Jones for spearheading this road safety project. Clark County Commission Chairman Michael Naft is also a strong proponent of safe roads for bicyclists and walkers. Sadly, the city of Las Vegas has no city council members championing this public safety issue and Mayor Shelley Berkley is a bit clueless on the topic.

Naturally, it's always best for trail crossings to be build safely when the trail is built. This tunnel (or bridges like the ones at the Town Center and Far Hills Ave. exits) should have been built as part of the trail when it opened. The crossings at Flamingo and Sahara are at grade and rather dangerous.

It will take a while for Clark County and the city of Las Vegas to catch up in the bicycle infrastructure category to other cities across the U.S. The national People For Bikes organization out of Colorado put Las Vegas at the 28th percentile of more than 3,000 cities when it comes to bike network resources. That's mighty sad and dismal.