By Beat the Traffic • April 17th, 2009 • 9:41 am
The Southwest Needs More Traffic Lights!
Yolanda’s Question for the Southwest: Yolanda wants to know if there are any plans to put a traffic signal at the intersection of Rainbow and Patrick. She thinks with all of the traffic there-it can use one! Yolanda says “I have been living in the Southwest for over 8 years and I’ve seen how it’s developed and how traffic has practically quadrupled during this time! There are now lots of commercial centers and residential areas and yet there doesn’t seem to be enough traffic lights in the area!”
Melissa’s Answer: Yolanda is right- the Southwest is constantly growing. You know the old quote- “if you build it, they will come!” Obviously the roads did, but not the traffic lights! I asked the County about installing a traffic signal at Rainbow and Patrick. County officials said this intersection was recently studied for one, but doesn’t meet the requirements. In a traffic signal study, different factors are researched like the intersection’s speed limit, the amount of accidents that occur and traffic delays. The study needs to pass 8 check points or “warrants” to get the okay for one. Unfortunately, Patrick at Rainbow didn’t pass. Another study will be done in the future as the area continues to grow. If that study shows a signal is needed, a plan and design will be made.
Categories: traffic
April 19th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Just wait for a horrible accident there, and if there’s a death involved…Voilà..A traffic light will magically appear.
Just what is the criteria for putting in traffic controls, besides the cost?. Just expect mumbo jumbo and double talk(gov speak), but no action until someonr dies there
April 20th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
What the county didn’t review is what the traffic is like at the other intersections (Russell and Sunset). They probably found that there was not enough traffic on Patrick. I watch traffic every day, morning and afternoon, and see cars stack up in both directions. Sometimes traffic extends from Russell to Patrick and Sunset to Patrick. Let’s ask the county why that happens. Is it because there is no traffic control device on Rainbow between Russell and Sunset? Huh Huh? Patrick would be the optimal location with it being center on Rainbow between the intersections of Russell and Sunset. The county needs to sit someone down on Rainbow and count how many near misses every day as people try to make a left turn anywhere on Rainbow between Russell and Sunset. This part on Rainbow is a very dangerous and busy stretch of roadway as cars are approaching the 215 and coming from the 215. Rainbow DOES need more traffic control!
April 27th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Check with the County. I believe one criteria is that there is at least, I say again, is at least one fatality at a particular intersection.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
This intersection is a disaster waiting to happen. Numerous accidents have already occured just short of the required death sentence it takes to install a traffic signal at this intersection. Turning any direction to or from Patrick is like taking your life and the lives of your children and gambling with those lives 3,4,5 times a day when you live in this area. Clark County traffic management deems this intersection as “safe” along with the CC School District for children to cross on their Safe Route to School maps or when calling the transportation office to inquire about where to have your Middle School age child cross. In what way, I would like to know is this SAFE!! There are no traffic lights….crossing guards….no crosswalks! This area has grown by leaps and bounds. Added a Hospital, Shopping Mall,
Strip Malls, Medical Offices, and last but not least the I-215 beltway just down the street from this busy intersection. RAINBOW NEEDS A LOT OF WORK TO BE DEEMED SAFE FOR ANYONE!!!!!
April 28th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
We got a traffic light at Cimarron and Oakey last year. There is no need for a light at that intersection. There were never any accidnets in the two years I lived there and the stop signs were doing well at keeping traffic controlled. There is def. a need for that light at Patrick and Rainbow I drive by there everyday. There are also more lights needed at Decatur, south of Blue Diamond Road. Try making a left turn there when dropping off or picking up a child at the elementary school or middle school between Blue Diamond and Cactus. When I called the Traffic Managment office two years ago about a light at Jones and Blue Diamond to help with school traffic they had no idea that there were two schools in the area.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
I see where Zenaida is coming from. There are many roads around town that has far less traffic than Rainbow and on those less traveled roadways, you see signal lights go up. Rainbow’s speed limit between Hacienda and 215 is 45 and is four lanes with center suicide turn lane as I like to call it. The roadway needs another lane in each direction from Hacienda to the 215 and more traffic control devices. Rainbow south has become a very dangerous stretch of roadway. Sometimes I think the people making the decisions don’t drive the roads.
July 11th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
NO WAY less traffic lights. they are a pain in the ass. it just slows me down. Also we could do away with speed limits too. people don’t care what they say anyway, they drive as fast or as slow as they want. Drive at your own risk is what the DMV told me when i first moved out here. How true they were. When people get into a wreck, i consider it population control. i laugh at all the wrecks and say thank God. Another idiot off the streets. Since we are on the topic of traffic lights, we need more red light cameras, enforce that law. and speeding cameras and enforce that law too. it ties up the traffic cops so they could tend to the hopeless souls that wrecked.
July 20th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Well, here is the rule my friend. Generally speaking, you only want lights at the 1/4 mile streets. If you want a light at Patrick, then start a fundraiser and once you get the right amount of money you can pay the County and it will go up real quick. Remember, the government is about fat, cushy jobs that pay way too well, not helping the citizens.
Obviously the traffic exiting 215 on Rainbow wishes to travel all the way to Tropicana. Someone needs to put up digital traffic signs alerting those drivers that both Hacienda and Russell are much more improved and should be used as a diversion. Also, they need to know they can exit on Jones as well. After Rainbow there are no north/south exits so people seem to all load onto Rainbow just to keep from ending up at Fort Apache and Tropicana.
August 18th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Sigh…. I have an observation about traffic and roads in general in the south west. It seems to me that prior to issuing the 100,000+ housing permits, the city/county should have required that roads to the building permit locations be built BEFORE building the homes. What the city has done is take the money for the permits first, allowed horrendous traffic to build up, then take almost 2 years to build just the first arterial project to serve the homes (Blue Diamond).
This posting is about needing more traffic signals.. just another example of poor planning is the expansion of Silverado Ranch between Dean Martin and Decatur. The road is completed, and yet remains barricaded because the signal at Decatur is on back order… guess it would be too hazardous to open the road and allow people to make an un-controlled left on Decatur… How about creating a 4-way stop until the signal arrives???