Now you can’t get there from here

Slap down some asphalt, toss up some signals, throw in a few turn lanes and you’re good to go. How can professional traffic engineers mess up something as seemingly simple as an intersection?

If you pose that question to residents near Azure Drive and Jones Boulevard — way up by the northern Las Vegas Beltway — be prepared for an earful or an e-mail box full of “let me count the ways.”

I’m no traffic expert, so I’m not going to judge the city of Las Vegas’ design, but the area homeowners’ frustrations are understandable.

The bottom line is they once used Azure to access the huge Centennial Hills shopping area, and now, because of the city’s handiwork, they have to circumvent the street.

Jeanne Adams, who lives on the east end of Azure, once zipped across Jones and down the west end of Azure to her husband’s doctor’s office.

Now she has to come up with new routes that usually are roundabout and result in a much longer ride.

“It is problematic, inconvenient and dangerous,” she said. “It’s like if you’re at home and you want to go to another room, you have to go through the garage.”

The reason for the outrage is because of an unusual design — in fact, only two exist in the entire Las Vegas Valley — called a three-quarters intersection. Concrete medians prevent drivers from continuing straight, leaving them no choice but to turn left or right.

“To me it’s nonsensical and it creates difficulty,” said Paul Miller, a self-described traffic critic who once relied on Azure to move east and west across that part of the northeast Las Vegas Valley. “It’s frustrating.”

It might be problematic and frustrating, but the design is not something the city just tossed together.

The new design protects Azure residents west of Jones from suddenly residing on a busy thoroughfare.

This is not unprecedented. Just ask homeowners who live on Oakey Boulevard, a quiet street before the community’s growth spurt turned it into a major east-west route.

City traffic engineers who came up with the Azure/Jones design were also concerned about keeping Jones, only 700 feet from the Las Vegas Beltway, flowing smoothly. Installing a full-length traffic signal could have caused Jones to back up all the way to the Beltway.

“The decision was made to go with the three-quarters signal where just a small percentage of existing traffic would be inconvenienced by the through-movement prohibition for Azure,” said Debby Ackerman, spokeswoman for the city’s Public Works Department.

It’s hard to argue there aren’t problems.

A post office is on the northeast corner of the intersection. Motorists traveling west on Azure — who want to continue doing so beyond Jones — pull into the post office parking lot, then turn left on busy Jones and right back onto Azure.

Eric Robinson, who lives in the neighborhood, has been a police officer for 20 years. He believes he can predict how motorists will respond to the intersection, which was completed in April.

“People are going to be making U-turns, cutting through parking lots. It’s made the problem they were trying to fix worse,” said Robinson, who has had to find a back way to take his daughter to her school on Azure.

City officials defend the design, pointing to a similar set-up in the county, at the intersection of Surrey Street and Russell Road.

Not the best comparison. At a glance, it’s difficult to see the need for anyone to cross Russell traveling south on Surrey; it’s pretty much all vacant land.

Unfortunately, these residents will have to figure out new routes and back roads to get where they want to go because, according to the city, 90 percent of those homeowners are satisfied.

“If changes were made, doing so would upset a whole lot of other folks, especially those who front on Azure,” Ackerman said.

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call the Road Warrior at 387-2904, or e-mail her at roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com or apacker@reviewjournal.com. Please include your phone number.

• There will be a 24-hour lane restriction on Las Vegas Boulevard south until Nov. 27. Southbound traffic will be reduced to two lanes and rerouted to the northbound side. Two lanes will be open in both directions. The restrictions, to accommodate utility work near the CityCenter project, begin about 1,000 feet south of Harmon Avenue near the CVS drugstore.

• In the southern valley, access from the eastbound Las Vegas Beltway to U.S. Highway 95 will be closed tonight from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. for sign placement.The eastbound Beltway onramps at Gibson Road and Stephanie Street will also be closed.

• The Interstate 15 southbound exit to Lake Mead Boulevard will be closed Thursday through Dec. 24. The Lake Mead Boulevard onramp to I-15 north also will be closed through Dec. 24. Lake Mead is also closed at Interstate 15.

• A new Interstate 15 south onramp to U.S. Highway 95 north and south will open Monday.

• The D Street/Washington Avenue onramp to Interstate 15 south is closed through Wednesday.

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL