LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Las Vegas Metro Police and Clark County officials unveiled a new road construction project aimed at deterring and reducing illegal street racing and takeovers on Tuesday morning.
The project is a collaboration between LVMPD, the Clark County Office of Traffic Safety, and the Nevada Department of Transportation.
The intersection of U.S. 93 and Grand Valley Parkway, approximately two miles west of I-15, is a major hotspot for illegal tricking driving, according to LVMPD Traffic Bureau Lieutenant Daryl Rhoads. To deter this activity in the area, the county will install "safety transverse rumble strips" along the roadway, which will alert drivers to the need to slow down.
Metro says they will be testing safety rumble strips at this intersection, they say street racing and sideshows have been an issue here, the rumble strips would damage vehicles participating in the illegal activity @KTNV pic.twitter.com/OqHjzgNjRj
— Joe Moeller (@joemoeller44) March 28, 2023
County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick said during the presentation that the illegal street takeovers block the roadway with hundreds of cars and participants, preventing semi-trucks from delivering essential items to the valley. Participants at the event, according to Kirkpatrick, will even jump onto trucks attempting to pass through and slash their tires.
This operation, Rhoades says, will utilize LVMPD's new street-racing-focused unit, RAID — or the Racing Apprehension and Intervention Detail. Modified vehicles taken into custody will be referred to the DMV, which will conduct inspections of the vehicle and request reversals of any modifications before letting them back onto the road.
"It's not going to prevent it — they can come out to this intersection and do doughnuts all they want," said Lieutenant Rhoads. "But it's going to do some serious damage to the tread of their tires."
It's a project they hope will reduce and deter future street takeovers in the area.
