Road work ahead, next few months

Don't believe the hype.

The construction on U.S. Highway 95 west of the Spaghetti Bowl is not done. But you wouldn't know that from the barrage of media reports in recent weeks.

On Dec. 17, a celebration will be held at the Valley View Boulevard exit from U.S. 95. Politicians will descend on Las Vegas from Carson City and Washington, D.C.

They will shake hands and pat each other on the back and tell commuters their troubles are over.

I, for one, cannot join in on the celebration.

For the past two weeks I've watched and listened to the same news reports you have. You know, the ones touting cone-free roads and noise-reducing asphalt. And I've listened to euphoric drivers clamoring about how thankful they are the construction is finally over.

It's taken 10 years and $500 million.

But construction workers and orange cones will be back, probably by February. And there will be the work zone slowdowns and endless lane shifting for five to six more years.

The next widening plan was conceived in 2003 while workers were already in the midst of widening U.S. 95 and engineers realized the projected growth in the valley was way off and the highway that was being constructed was not wide enough.

State officials haven't been talking about the new work that is just months away -- that is until I asked them about it.

They plan on widening U.S. 95 from Washington Avenue north to Kyle Canyon Road, including reworking several interchanges, a plan that will take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

The folks at the Transportation Department want to bask in the completion of the work to this point.

I don't blame them.

I also want to make clear that I don't object to the additional work being done. I can appreciate that growth projections in the 1990s ended up being wrong because of unprecedented and unexpected growth.

Las Vegas isn't the only metropolitan area to experience that. In Austin, Texas, they're building highways on top of highways because of growth.

But the rosy picture painted for the upcoming celebration gives a false impression to the people who commute up and down U.S. 95.

I can picture those drivers squeezing their steering wheels until their knuckles turn white, smoke billows out of their nostrils and fire shoots from their ears like a character in some old-timey Warner Brothers cartoon.

And the media seems to have been too caught up in the excitement of the work's finality.

We in the media too often are fed sugar-coated anchovies and never complain that it smells fishy.

HOV LANES COME TO VALLEY

The U.S. 95 widening provides the valley's first High Occupancy Vehicle, or HOV, lanes, part of a regionwide plan to put the lanes on Las Vegas highways and byways.

State officials hope HOV lanes will benefit proposed express-bus service on U.S. 95 and encourage carpooling.

At this point there are only 7.3 miles of HOV lanes on the southbound side of U.S. 95 and 6.6 miles northbound.

That's not a lot. But with each new mile, the Transportation Department hopes the lanes will become more effective.

HOV lanes can be used by vehicles transporting more than one person, along with motorcycles and buses, regardless of the number of passengers.

The lanes are marked by a solid white line and a white diamond. Vehicles can enter the lanes at any point.

Those caught violating the law may be fined $250.

I'm not completely sold on the effectiveness of HOV lanes, but am willing to give them a chance.

I wanted to address one issue, however. I received a number of questions about whether hybrid vehicles driven by one person can travel in those lanes.

Here in Nevada, the answer is no.

But maybe that's something the Legislature should consider. In 2005, the federal transportation bill allowed states to issue stickers to hybrid owners to allow them to drive alone in HOV lanes, according to HybridCars.com.

So far several states have tried it. Arizona, California and Virginia have enacted laws and Georgia has considered it.

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