Half of Clark County buses now stream live camera feeds
Half of Clark County’s public buses are streaming live footage from surveillance cameras, providing a vital tool for law enforcement officers in the wake of a standoff on the Strip last year.
All the double-decker buses traveling along the Strip are equipped to provide real-time camera feeds, and the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada’s entire fleet of more than 400 buses is expected to go live by the end of this month, agency spokesman Brad Seidel said.
“It is going well, and the technology is working as expected,” Seidel said. “There have been no instances that we are aware of in which law enforcement has needed to use the system.”
Up until now, cameras inside RTC buses were capable only of recording images that could be viewed later.
The RTC is spending $248,460 to install equipment that will provide live camera feeds in the wake of a Metro police standoff with gunman Rolando Cardenas, who hid inside a bus parked in front of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in March 2017.
Cardenas could see outside, but SWAT officers could not spot the gunman because a vinyl advertisement blocked the bus windows.
About three hours into the standoff, police used a flash-bang to break the windows and placed a camera-equipped robot inside the bus to get a view of Cardenas, who is accused of fatally shooting one man and wounding another man. Cardenas tossed the robot outside the bus and remained barricaded until he was arrested without incident.
Last summer, RTC officials tested other types of vinyl bus coverings but determined that they made little difference in allowing police to see inside.
The agency will continue to use the same material for the wrap-around ads, which generate up to $2 million annually. That’s enough to cover about 2 percent of the RTC’s service costs, or the equivalent of operating a smaller bus line elsewhere in the Las Vegas Valley.
Trashy parkway
Trash seems to be piling up along Summerlin Parkway, particularly between Anasazi and Buffalo drives, according to Sandra from Las Vegas.
“There’s garbage, lawn droppings from gardeners’ trucks and all types of litter you can imagine,” Sandra wrote in an email to the Road Warrior. “It seems like the city has stopped cleaning up this area.”
Rest assured, Sandra, Las Vegas contracts with a landscape company charged with collecting trash on Thursdays and Fridays along the medians and shoulders of Summerlin Parkway, city spokeswoman Margaret Kurtz said.
However, ongoing construction is preventing the clean-up crews from accessing some areas of the road, Kurtz said.
“This has allowed the litter to build up in these areas and become unsightly,” Kurtz said, adding that the problem is being addressed with the landscape company.
Tree trimming
Dot from Las Vegas noticed that trees are blocking a set of yellow flashing lights meant for a pedestrian crossing near Faith Lutheran Academy at Town Center Drive and Desert Primrose Lane in Summerlin.
Kurtz said the trees will be “trimmed right away.”
Deteriorated Decatur
Joe and Val each sent emails noting the poor lighting and rough patches of road along Decatur Boulevard, between Cactus Avenue and Blue Diamond Road in the southwest end of the valley.
Clark County spokesman Dan Kulin said designs are underway for widening and resurfacing of Decatur between Cactus and Warm Springs Road, with construction expected to start sometime in 2019. However, county officials still need to acquire some right-of-way access before work can begin.
In the meantime, Kulin said, crews will check out this area to see whether temporary repairs are needed.
Road to Pahrump
Roger from Henderson wanted to know when work will be completed on a divided highway to Pahrump.
Construction is expected to start by spring on a project that calls for the addition of a traffic lane in each direction of Blue Diamond Road between Mile Markers 16.3 and 22 in southwest Clark County, said Tony Illia, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Transportation.
The road will be equipped with a raised median barrier, bicycle lanes, new signs and improved lighting by the time work wraps up in late 2020, Illia said.
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Road work ahead
Downtown
— The Spring Mountain Road onramps to northbound Interstate 15 will close from 9 p.m. Tuesday to 6 a.m. Wednesday, and again from 9 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday. Crews are restriping the road and installing signs.
— The Flamingo Road onramp to northbound Interstate 15 will close from from 9 p.m. Tuesday to 6 a.m. Wednesday, and again from 9 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday. Crews are restriping the road and installing signs.
— The right lane on northbound Interstate 15 at Flamingo Road will be closed from 9 p.m. Tuesday to 6 a.m. April 6. Crews are restriping the road and installing signs.
— The Charleston Boulevard onramps to southbound Interstate 15 will close from 9 p.m. Monday through mid-October. Crews are rebuilding the intersection.
— The outside lane of northbound Interstate 15 is closed between Desert Inn Road and Sahara Avenue through late February. Crews are erecting traffic management signs.
— The Charleston Boulevard offramp from southbound Interstate 15 is closed through March 6. Crews are building a new offramp.
— The eastbound Charleston Boulevard offramp from northbound Interstate 15 is closed through March 8. Crews are widening the freeway.
— The outside lane of southbound Interstate 15 is closed between Sahara Avenue and Flamingo Road through late April. Crews are erecting traffic management signs.
— The outside lane of northbound Interstate 15 will close between Flamingo and Desert Inn roads from March to late April. Crews are erecting traffic management signs.
— Main Street is restricted between Bonneville Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard through May. Crews are working on a storm drain.
— Sections of Bonneville Avenue, Charleston Boulevard, Grand Central Parkway and Martin Luther King Boulevard will have closed or disrupted lanes surrounding the Spaghetti Bowl as crews work on Project Neon through July.
Southwest
— Tropicana Avenue will be restricted between Decatur Boulevard and Lindell Road from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays through Feb. 28. Crews are doing sewer work.
— State Route 159 will be restricted between Blue Diamond Road and the Red Rock National Recreation Area from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays through March 1. Crews are filling road cracks.
Northwest
— Jones Boulevard will be restricted for about one mile near Lake Mead Boulevard from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday. Crews are making emergency pavement repairs.
— Both directions of U.S. Highway 95 are narrowed to a single lane between Skye Canyon Park and Paiute drives through July 12. Crews are building a new interchange bridge.
Henderson
— Center Street is restricted between Burkholder Boulevard and Lake Mead Parkway through June. Crews are making various road improvements.
North Las Vegas
— Las Vegas Boulevard will be reduced to one lane in each direction between Nellis Boulevard and Range Road from Tuesday to March 30. Crews are installing a sewer pipeline.
— U.S. Highway 93 is restricted between Interstate 15 and Apex Power Parkway through June. Crews are widening the highway and upgrading an interchange.
— Nellis Boulevard is restricted between Cheyenne Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard from 6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays through July. Crews are installing sewer pipes.
Gasoline prices
The average gasoline price Friday in the Las Vegas Valley was $2.74 per gallon. It was $2.77 in Nevada. The national average of $2.54 is up 4 cent from a week ago, the same as a month ago and up 26 cents from a year ago.
