Bicycling Las Vegas: Even Waiting At A Red Light In Summerlin 'burbs Can Be Costly

 

I was waiting on my bicycle in a bike lane on Alta Drive at a red light at the Durango intersection when I felt a rush of air on my right shoulder.

A driver in a Honda SUV making a right turn missed me by a matter of a few inches and nearly clipped me while making a right turn at the red light from Alta to Durango. I hate that drivers can make right tiwns on red lights. Most never come to a full stop -- like this moron who almost hit me.

The driver of a small convertible in the traffic lane to my left who was also stopped at the red light, saw the SUV nearly hit me, rolled down his front passenger window and uttered, ""Unbelievable."

It was Saturday morning in Las Vegas and I had left my home across from the BLM Red Rock National Conservation lands near State Route 160 at 5:15 AM to bike at a time when there would be limited car drivers on the road.

I figured a Saturday morning in my-July in the Las Vegas area would be a safer time to bike because I figured there would be less car traffic.

It's a 50-mile route that I have named, "The Big Rectangle," because I bike east to the Strip, turn left and head to the Las Vegas downtown, make a another left on Alta Drive to head west to Summerlin and then bike on State Route 159 through Red Rock Canyon to my home near SR 160.

But this is Las Vegas. So many people drive recklessly around here -- like the guy driving this Honda SUV.

During my Big Rectangle ride, I biked the Strip around 6:30 AM and it was all quiet.

Funny how biking the Strip was uneventful at 6:30 while waiting at a red light at the Alta-Durango intersection in a bike lane nearly ended with a car driver hitting me.

Along the Strip I stopped at the A's stadium construction site at the Reno Ave. side street.

The A's are building a $2 billion domed MLB stadium where the Tropicana hotel-casino used to stand. The owner of the former Tropicana, Bally's Corporation said it wants to build a tower, entertainment and restaurants around the A's stadium but nothing outside the ballpark is being built.

 

I did not take long to bike north on the Strip to downtown Vegas.

I take a lane and wave the few car drivers on the Strip around me, pointing to the open traffic lane on my left.

When I reach downtown, I turn left on Alta and start biking west and slowly climbing back to Summerlin. I then take the 215 trail for a mile to Charleston Blvd. and continue west on State Route 159 through Red Rock Canyon.

I hop on the .99 of a mile trail that runs along SR 159 at the new Sky Vista traffic light. The ,99 of a mile trail is phase one of a Red Rock Legacy trail that supposedly is being built through the entire Red Rock canyon corridor along SR 159. It's depressing to bike on this lovely paved trail for ,99 of a mile and then see it end at the hill. The trail is to be continued one day. Clark County says construction will restart in 2027.

Click here  for my video of this trail.

I stopped at the Red Rock visitors center where the volunteers inside at the info desk are way tired of my comments about bicycling along SR 159. They've heard me too many times -- the speeders, the lack of any any Nevada state trooper patrols and the crotch rocket guys illegally passing cars at their 80-100 mph speeds.

Maybe one day that .99 of a mile trail will extend to the Red Rock drive entrance, the exit and eventually State Route 160. 

I just don't know whether I will live to see a finished Red Rock trail but the trail extension is in the plans.

Bicyclists Who Devoted Their Lives To Making Streets Safer Killed While Bicycling in Chicago In June, In Boston Today

 

They loved bicycling and lived bicycle lives.

Their names are Riley O'Neil, who worked on bicycle safety issues for the City of Chicago's Department of Transportation, and Louisa Gag, a Boston Transportation Department planner who worked on road planning designed to stop car drivers from striking bicyclists and pedestrians.

Both were killed while bicycling in their home towns where they tried to make roads safer for bicyclists.    

On June 5, the 35-year-old O'Neil was killed while bicycling in the Chicago area where he was doored by a motorist and then mortally wounded by a truck driver who struck O'Neil in the road.  

Today July 9, more tragic news struck when the 36-year-old Gag was killed while bicycling in the Boston area at 8:19 AM.  

These bicyclist deaths are brutally heartbreaking and upsetting to hear. These were people trying to make a difference in making roads safer for bicyclists.

Also last month, University of California at Irvine climate and earth science professor Francois Primeau, 60, was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Santa Ana in Orange County, California June 19.

It saddens me to know these bicyclists were killed while living lives devoted to making our roads and planet a better place.

Could Not Find Bike Racks At Bellagio, So Railing In Parking Garage Will Have To Do

 

Reaching the Bellagio by bicycle is hardly a cakewalk because it calls for biking o the Strip and turning into the Bellagio and then biking on a narrow road to the self park parking garage.

As usual with the hotels on the Strip, I could not find a bicycle rack so I locked up the bike on out-of-sight railing on the first level that connects to the casino floor level.

I was at the Bellagio to visit with a good South Florida friend who is in the sports business industry and participating in the SEICON III event on sports entertainment innovation this week.

Naturally, I popped in to the conservatory.

Looks like the Bellagio is a fan of the A's, which uses the elephant as a part of its branding.

How About Connecting The End Of .99 Mile Trail To State Route 159 Outside Summerlin As Temporary Move

 

I know Ron the Red Rock Loop toll collector quite well.

I check in with Ron at his window whenever I bike the Red Rock Scenic Drive and today Ron made a great point about the end of the .99 of a mile trail outside Summerlin along State Route 159.

"Why didn't they just connect the end of the trail to 159 with a spur trail,?" Ron asked me. "When they continue the trail they can just remove the temporary spur."

Ol' Ron read my mind.

I've been trying to figure that out, too.

The "spur" that Ron described is actually maybe only 40 or 50 feet or from the .99 of a mile trail to 159. It's kind of sad the first phase of the 17-mile Red Rock Legacy Trail is a mere .99 of a mile when the trail was supposed to go six miles down 159 to the Red Rock Loop exit in Phase 1.

But money being tight (for bicycle and pedestrian projects, I guess), Phase 1 funds could only .99 of a mile of paved trail from outside Summerlin to the first State Route 159 hill.

Here's a video of the start of the trail that I biked this morning as part of my 33-mile "Triangle" bike route, a newly-amended and shorter version of my 50-mile "Big Rectangle" bike ride. 

It's a good thing the contractor, Las Vegas Paving, installed the "Pavement Ends" sign because it's so hard to figure out the pavement ends.

It's at that point, after .99 of a mile, that I simply walk my bicycle the 40 feet or so from the .99 of  mile trail to the shoulder of State Route 159 to continue my trek home through Red Rock Canyon.

You have to wonder why there's no money to continue Phase 1 when the F1 car race tells us it brings in $1 billion a year in spending and the Raiders/Allegiant Stadium says they bring in $1 billion a year in spending and the LVCVA chief Steve Hill says the Super Bowl brings in $1 billion a year in spending. It seems $1 billion a year or per event is the default spending number used by the sports boosters in town.

F1 is all about using our PUBLIC roads for its Las Vegas Grand Prix, so how about F1 pay to build a real regional paved trail network so that Las Vegas can improve its 28 percentile ranking when it comes to Vegas ranked in bicycle networks. National bicycle advocacy group People For Bikes said Las Vegas ranked 2,171th out of 3,019 cities when it comes to its bicycle network. That's accurate because both Clark County and the City of Las Vegas have some bicycle infrastructure like bike lanes and a few paved trail here and there, but because the connectivity of the bike infrastructure is so awful Las Vegas ranks so low for its bicycle network system.

About two miles to the east on 159.Charleston Blvd., thank goodness Clark County is building a 215 beltway trail tunnel underneath busy Charleston because bicyclists and walkers have been trying to dodge car drivers and traffic when crossing Charleston at grade. The drivers are turning onto and off the 215 beltway ramps and often turning into crossing bicyclists who have the right of the way at the time.

Here's a video showing the tunnel construction during my bicycle ride this morning.

I don't understand why Las Vegas and Clark County just don't build infrastructure right the first time. Like, who would design a 215 trail crossing that not a trail bridge or a tunnel? Now, Clark County went back and did it right.

I have been complaining to the city and county about dangerous at-grade crossing for years. Kudos to Channel 8 in 2020 for doing a story on this horribly-designed trail crossing, which is in Clark County on one side and the city of Las Vegas on the other side.

I can't wait to bike in this tunnel to get from one side of Charleston to the other. I will be at this tunnel ribbon-cutting for sure!

 

Lovell Canyon: Summer Relief Outside Las Vegas

 

Lovell Canyon gives you a taste of the Spring Mountains without launching into the big trip up the Kyle or Lee Canyon Roads.

It's over the Potosi Mountain peak on State Route 160 at the small town of Mountain Springs and about three miles down the big hill and there's the turn for Lovell Canyon.

I live out here near Blue Diamond, so it's only ten minutes down the road to park, unload a bicycle and start bicycling up the nine-mile U.S. Forest Service road where people can camp out for a maximum 14 days in a row.

It's a lovely setting with lots of green color shades and rolling landscape

It's a great escape in the summer.

Trying to bicycle Las Vegas, the outlier city of the United States

 

I have lived all around the U.S.

There was metro New York City, then South Florida and off to Denver. Then back to South Florida before moving to Seattle and then a path that found me eventually in Tampa before arriving here in Las Vegas in 2012.

It's taken 14 years to 2026 for me to finally accept that things like planning and road safety in Las Vegas and Clark County (the local government that oversees the Strip) are just different from everywhere else. And when I say different, I mean the standards are lower amid a loosey-goosey approach to doing things around here.

My perspective comes from my perch on a bicycle.

I love bicycling. It's the ultimate form of transportation. It gives you the ability to soak in details of life all around you while also going just fast enough to reach your destination in a reasonable time.

I see the Las Vegas METRO police "DUI stings" and enforcement numbers, but I rarely see police officers patrolling Las Vegas area roads.

I live outside the village of Blue Diamond off State Route 159, which is a state road. But the only time I see a state trooper on Sr 159 is when there's a bad crash. Like a few Sundays ago when I motorcyclist crashed. I saw a makeshift memorial with a cross, alcohol bottles and other items at the site of the crash off SR 159 near Blue Diamond.

Today, there was a back up of 18-wheelers and trailers at the gypsum mine entrance a half-mile from Blue Diamond. Some of the 18-wheelers took up part of the SR 159 travel lane, which is not exactly a safe move.

Speeding, illegal passing and general reckless driving are common on SR 159. Mix in the 18-wheeler gypsum mine and plant traffic, the casual speeders and the guys on crotch rockets zooning 100 mph and you have a nice brew of road chaos -- especially on the weekends.

I used to bike all over metro Vegas.

No more.

People drive dangerously and recklessly. There are no regional paved trails except for the trail along the 215 beltway -- and those trail crossings are awful with cars entering and coming off the 215 beltway, endangering trail bicyclists who have the right-of-way when crossing road like Flamingo, Sahara and Charleston. Kudos to County Commissioner Justin Jones for pushing for the trail tunnel being built underneath Charleston so that bicyclists will not have to face the dangers of trying to cross Charleston at the grade level.

I cover lots of news in the Strip corridor. to avoid traffic and parking problems, I often drive with my 1980s Raleigh beater bike to a mile or two from the trip, park on a quiet side street and take out the Raleigh to reach my destination. For example, only two weeks ago I biked to the A's stadium construction site for a tour. Here's the Raleigh at the site:

Many of the hotels on the Strip lack bike racks for the public, with Fontainebleau Las Vegas among the worst businesses I have encountered for bicyclists. They refused to allow me to lock my bike on bike racks used by employees.

I good shoutout to T-Mobile Arena, built with bike racks right outside the New York New York parking garage near the ticket windows off the plaza.

But most of the Strip corridor is horribly planned for bicycles. The Las Vegas Convention Center has no bike racks in front of its newly renovated main convention hall and there's a small bike rack for three bicycles at the $1 billion West Hall convention hidden away behind the building next to the truck bay.

The Las Vegas Reid Airport also has crappy bike racks at the Terminal 1 parking garage. The metal racks are the slotted types -- way out of date and difficult to use to lock your bike frame to. This is Las Vegas, which ranked 2,171th out of more than 3,000 cities in bicycle networks, according to a 2026 People For Bike city rankings report.

Metro Las Vegas does have some nice scenic places to ride a bicycle -- the River Mountains Trail Loop in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the city of Henderson and Boulder; the Red Rock Scenic Drive and Valley of Fire State Park.

But the city of Las Vegas and Clark County don't control those bike places.

The local governments can make it so much more safer for bicyclists -- and walkers -- but building roads to move cars as fast as possible and not for bike safety is the priority in this town. There's a lot of lip service and talking. But let's see the paved trails and protected bike lanes in the work centers -- not just in the affluent development of Summerlin.

 

Metro Las Vegas Area Needs Road Help Bigtime For Walkers, Bicyclists, Non-Car Users; Start Building A Network Of Real Routes

 

It's disturbing and heartbreaking to hear about crashes on our roads here in the Las Vegas area. Before this batch of currently elected people, it was clear the city, county and metro Vegas built roads to move people in cars as fast as possible without understanding or accounting for the walkers and people on bicycles using the same roads. So these days, policy is only now changing to include other road users besides drivers and it's typically shaped in response to bicyclists and walkers getting crashed into by drivers and killed/injured.

Based on what I have seen around in the places I have lived in like metro New York, South Florida, Tampa Bay, Denver and Seattle, City of Las Vegas Government and Clark County, Nevada are at least 20 years behind building roads with protected lanes, separate trails and bicyclist-walker networks where safe and complete roads actually connect to make routes for pedestrians and those on bicycles who are using bicycles for transportation and commuting purposes .

The problem is that policy is driven here by reaction -- reacting to so many people killed/injured by drivers and not by progressive/preemptive construction of paved trails, protected bike lanes etc. Walk Bike Tampa put it very well: "It says a lot about our society when people injured in traffic crashes must publicly share painful stories just to justify basic safety improvements, while opposition centers around preserving the ability to drive fast through residential neighborhoods. No one should have to suffer serious injury before safer streets are considered worthwhile."

For example, we need a paved trail or protected bike lane from downtown to the Strip, which is an obvious connection. But the city likes to build trails along highways like along the 215 beltway and a current project along Summerlin Parkway. The city and RTC have received federal money to pay private engineering companies to come up with even more walking/bicycle plans that typically never get implemented. This is costing metro Vegas bigtime because our dangerous roads are one factor among several (under-funded education, health care personnel shortage) that led WalletHub to conclude, "Nevada is ranked the 4th worst state (No. 47) to raise a family, driven by low rankings in education, child care, and safety, ahead of only Mississippi, West Virginia, and New Mexico."

Four Clark County students were killed walking/biking to and from school last year. This is unbelievable. Most cities would make that the number one local issue -- stop killing students and children on our roads. I suggest metro Vegas do the same.