LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — If you've driven on valley roads, then you have no doubt seen some of the dozens of road construction projects that are currently active. Several locals tell Channel 13 that they're fed up with all the construction in our community.
And the police have taken notice, saying that these construction projects could be part of the reason for an increase in road rage incidents.
WATCH: Metro: Road rage-related calls are on the rise in Las Vegas
“Look there’s a lot of road construction going on in the valley right now, we’re starting to see an increase slightly in some of these road rage incident type of shootings, a couple of murders. Please, none of it’s worth their life," said Metro Homicide Lt. Jason Johansson
Lt. Johannson is referring to a deadly road rage shootingon Las Vegas Boulevard on Nov. 25.
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While Johansson says construction is only a piece of the road rage puzzle, locals and tourists tell me they're sick of all the traffic.
“We try to avoid it honestly, I’ve noticed a lot of traffic so we’ve been just trying to walk everywhere as much as we can," said Sajan Patel, who avoids driving around road construction projects.
Patel says he was surprised to see just how many Clark County roads are under construction.
“It’s not easily accessible, you kind of end up spending a lot of time in traffic and kind of walking more places," Patel said.
RTC of Southern Nevada has a map of Clark County, which you can view here. The orange on the map shows each stretch of roadway that is either currently under construction, will soon be under construction as part of a current project, or has already been under construction during a current project.
I showed this map to Alex Gonzalez who traveled to Las Vegas from Houston. I asked him if he was surprised to see so much construction listed on the site.
"Yes it is, especially for like a place where there is a lot of tourism," Gonzalez said.
He tells me the traffic congestion is much worse in Las Vegas.
“In Houston, it’s not the same, but I guess here I see more of that," Gonzalez said.
In response to the large number of construction projects in our valley and your concerns with traffic congestion, I reached out to several municipalities and organizations that are associated with construction projects in our valley.
I asked them questions regarding the total amount of projects: how certain projects are chosen, if all municipalities work together to keep track of projects, and to address your concerns with the roadways.
Clark County tells me they work with all local municipalities in the valley to better coordinate road construction and to try and limit disruption to the community.
RTC of Southern Nevada Deputy Chief Executive Officer David Swallow sent me this statement in response to road construction projects across our valley.
"The RTC understands that many large, high-priority events and roadway construction projects are causing disruptions in travel times for both our motorists and transit riders. As drivers and transit riders ourselves, we understand this can be frustrating.
While the RTC works closely with local agencies, NDOT, utility companies, event organizers, and even private developers to plan hundreds of projects, the RTC does not have final say on permitting and project timelines. Many factors, including funding, permitting, approvals, and weather play into when various construction projects can take place.
In our role as the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the RTC convenes stakeholders through our Executive Advisory Committee (EAC), which includes the region’s Public Works and Planning directors and NDOT. In addition to the EAC, the RTC has an Operations Subcommittee, which further coordinates on items affecting traffic and transit operations.
As the region’s traffic manager, RTC’s Freeway & Arterial System of Transportation (FAST) team leads a bi-weekly meeting of local agencies, law enforcement, resort properties, event organizers, barricade companies, and other stakeholders to identify and proactively plan for upcoming events and major construction project activities to minimize disruptions.
The RTC has developed several tools to help empower travelers to better plan their trips and navigate around construction.
The RTC offers its Seeing Orange website, SeeingOrangeNV.com that includes direct access to real-time traffic alerts, rider alerts and detours, and special event information. The site also features information and updates on upcoming construction and special event impacts, as well as longer-term roadway project information from local jurisdictions, utility companies and private developers."
The City of North Las Vegas says road construction selection is based on needs/available funding and is part of the city's capital improvement plan. Some projects are brought forward by staff and others originate from citizen concerns.
