LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Road diets, it’s not a new diet fad as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, it is when the city, or in this case the county, takes away one traffic lane in each direction and replaces that traffic lane with a bike lane.
But one valley resident who lives next to Grand Canyon Drive is not happy with the changes.
“First of all, nobody was ever notified that this was going to happen, which makes sense that they wouldn’t notify people, because people would probably be questioning, ‘Why we are spending more money to take away traffic lanes when we spent all this money to put the traffic lanes in in the first place?’” said John Hildebrandt, a nearby resident.
Clark County Public Works quietly removed one traffic lane in each direction along Grand Canyon Dr. between Russell Road and Maule over the summer. When FOX5 reached out to the public works department about the changes, they told the Cone Zone, “It was a request made by commissioner Justin Jones that represents the area.”
“Traffic volumes down there, I drove it myself on my bike and in my car many times, and it just made sense. It was a safe corridor for people who are riding the bikes,” said Justin Jones, Clark County Commissioner, District F.
Over the last few years, Commissioner Justin Jones has removed traffic lanes not just on Grand Canyon Drive, but also on other roadways like Southern Highlands Parkway and Southbound Hualapai Way between Flamingo and Russell. Bigger projects like “Reimagined Boulder Highway” in Henderson and the massive RTC Maryland Parkway bus lane project also call for the removal of traffic lanes.
“What do you think about projects like Maryland Parkway and Boulder Highway reimagined, where they’re removing traffic lanes as a city continues to grow?” Smith asked Hildebrandt.
“I think it’s a complete mess, and I don’t know why anyone in their right mind would ever think first of all that it is safe for a cyclist to ride on that road and second of all, how does it help businesses when you’re taking a lane away?” Hildebrandt said.
The City of Henderson insists that the removal of traffic lanes along Boulder Highway will not impact traffic and will improve safety for pedestrians. The RTC told Cone Zone that vehicles will still be allowed to use the bus lane to make right turns into businesses, but with over 30,000 vehicles daily using Maryland Parkway, drivers may pay the price for those new dedicated bus lanes.
“35 years ago, I met Harry Reid at the board of realtors, and he said that someday Las Vegas is gonna triple in size and we’re gonna have roadways that are going to rival the freeways of major cities, and we did. Now, we’re spending all this money to cause traffic and congestion,” Hildebrandt said.
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