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.

Spectacular Zion National Park By Bicycle

 

The e-bike craze sweeping America certainly was evident at Zion National Park, where people rented lots of bikes that looked like mini-motorcycles and cargo bikes for little kids to sit in the "back" of the two-wheel vehicle.

I was biking on my wheels using good, ol' leg power to check out the spectacular landscape views on this 90-degree day.

The valley floor is spectacular with walls of rock climbing to a gorgeous clear sky.

My strategy is simple: Arrive after the crushing morning rush around 1 PM, drive into the park to find a parking space just past the valley floor turn and take the bike from the car and start pedaling.

Today I biked the valley floor before turning back and bicycling the switchback road to the tunnel.

By the way, there is a paved trail from the visitors center to the turn where to start the valley floor road that is behind a mechanical arm that buses can pass. The park has a rule that requires bicyclists to stop biking to allow bus drivers to drive their buses past them.

Spring Rite Of Seeing Magenta-Pink Blooms In Desert Is Joyful Part Of Bicycling

 

It's getting into late March but I have not thought about these grenade bursts of neon magenta-pink in the calico desert, the mind-boggling blooms of the beavertail cactus that pop this time of year.

I adore these blooms and this morning after I bicycled the Red Rock Loop outside Las Vegas, I prepared a late-morning stir fry breakfast and told myself it was game on to check for these Mojave Desert plants at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

I checked in at the visitors center and then bicycled along the River Mountains Loop Trail and that's where I saw the explosions of fushcia in the sloping desert land where Lake Mead serves as a vackdrop.

When I left Las Vegas in February 2016 for Vero Beach, Florida, I missed the blooms of these amazing plants (and the opening of T-Mobile-Arena on the Strip.)

And when I returned to start LVSportsBiz.com in June 2017, I missed that year's bloom.

I still remember the jolt of joy I felt when I saw those blooms again in late March 2018 and there was a renewal of this rite Sunday afternoon.

The re-connection to this bloom color and spring rite of passage was more powerful than seeing the Bellagio or the Fremont Street Experience or the Strip again when I returned.

Nature eclipses all and today's doubleheader of bike rides -- the Red Rock Loop and the Rover Mountains Loop Trail/Lake Mead -- was a lovely reset for the week.

You know my saying: nature and bicycling before LVSportsBiz and writing.

  

Tip of the bike helmet to city of Las Vegas for installing single bike racks next to city hall entrance

 

Way to go City of Las Vegas for having single bike racks next to the city hall entrance.

I went to City Hall to use my two minutes during public comment period to urge the city council and all Claark County officials to make bicycle and pedestrian safety a priority and invest i building roads for all users, nit just cars. I told them a central paved trail system is needed and even wrote this story for LVSportsBiz,com.

It's hard to find bike racks at the $1 billion West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, which -- by the way -- just received a $600 million renovation on the public dime but did not bother to install a single bike rack in front of the newly refurbished convention center, LVCVA, that's how it's done -- call city of Las Vegas on how you install a bike rack near a public building entrance.

When Cars And Motorcycles Are Not On The Trail, Bicycling River Mountains Loop Trail Is Great Experience

 

Bicycling in the Clark County/Las Vegas area is dangerous.

Under Clark County Public Works Director Denis Cederburg, the county has created a road system that is basically highways with traffic lights, one that lacks a paved trail system or protected bike lanes.

So, I pack my bicycle in my car and drive 40 minutes to the River Mountains Loop Trail. I park in River Mountain Lake Park off Lake Mead Parkway near Lake Las Vegas and start a counter-clockwise ride on what is normally a fabulous paved trail loop of about 35 miles or so.

But yesterday (Sunday), it was a rather dismal experience.

That's what happens when you see a car along the trail, another vehicle coming right at you and teens on small motorcycles buzzling along the trail.

It's tough enough that a road system and drivers endanger bicyclists' lives on roads. But it's rather routine that drivers are in vehicles on the River Mountains Loop Trail in the Henderson section of the trail circuit.

City of Henderson staff and police have to crack down on this.

Otherwise you're going to see a horrific tragedy on what is normally a popular trail.

Why Do Mountain Bikers Not Yield To Hikers If That's The Rule?

 

The sign says mountain bikers yield to hikers.

But it's been my hiking experience that it is quite rare for a mountain biker to yield to me when I'm hiking on the trails in the Red Rock area off of the Late Night parking lot off State Route 160.

I hike a lot of miles. And I'd estimate nine our of ten mountain bikers do not yield to me as a hiker.

Most mountain bikers are zipping along pretty well and assume a hiker will get out of the way, I guess.

I also ride a mountain bike on these trails and I do stop to let a hiker pass.

What are your thoughts?

Bicycle Man Book Gets Fantastic Review From Bill

 

Nothing consistently gives me joy like meeting people who love bicycling and who buy my Bicycle Man book.

Such was the case with Bill, a hearty 84-year-old fella I met in Boulder City last Saturday.

Bill already read the book and sent this beautiful email to me:

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. After just reading a few pages I had a hard time not reading the next story so I already finished the whole book. I especially appreciated the Bill Fox chapters and your mother learning to ride later in life.

Also I am amazed at how many areas of the country you covered I am familiar with like my first job interview after graduation from Michigan State University  was at IBM headquarters. That didn’t go well but I remember the scenic ride along the Hudson on the way to NYC where I did get my first real job at Manufactures Hanover Bank. Since I was a farm boy from Montana and I had a car I spent every available weekend going to Vermont for fresh air and freedom for biking and skiing and got to know the Connecticut turnpike area. Then you mentioned Highway 2 and Glacier Park. When you went through Shelby you went within 12 miles of the farm I grew up on.
After retiring I spent 10 winters in Florida enjoying the Courtney Campbell and the Clearwater Causeway bridges and the Pinellas Trail.

So it was great meeting you! Thank you very much for all you have done and are still doing to promote biking!

Bill DeVries  That's a Dutch name and I was born in the Netherlands. No wonder I am a biker !!

Thank you, Bill!

If anyone wants to buy Bicycle Man, email me at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com.