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Adrienne Packer | ROAD WARRIOR
Connecting the lines a key to Nevada railroad plan
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■ Through 5 a.m. Monday, traffic on southbound U.S. Highway 95 will be detoured onto Rainbow Boulevard and back onto the freeway. One northbound lane will remain open on the highway and traffic will not be diverted to Rainbow. One lane will remain open on eastbound Summerlin Parkway to northbound Highway 95. Access to Highway 95 north from Jones Boulevard and from Lake Mead Boulevard will be restricted. Shuttles will again provide pedestrians a ride across Rainbow.
■ For the next four weeks, expect delays on Shadow Lane between Alta Drive and Charleston Boulevard as crews make sidewalk improvements and install traffic signal conduits. One lane in each direction will remain open.
■ For the next several months, expect road closures behind the east side of the Strip. Closed roads include Ida Avenue between Audrie Street and Koval Lane, Winnick Avenue between Audrie and Koval, and Audrie north of Albert Avenue.
■ For the next two years, watch for lane shifts on the Las Vegas Beltway between Interstate 15 and Windmill Lane as crews widen the freeway. Bridges at Paradise Road, Warm Springs Road and Robindale Road and the airport connector tunnel also are being widened.
■ Through July, expect delays on Valley View Boulevard between U.S. Highway 95 and Desert Inn Road because of a widening project.
GASOLINE PRICES
The average price of gasoline in the Las Vegas Valley on Friday was $3.45 per gallon; the state average is $3.49; the national average is $3.47.
Las Vegas Review-Journal
We want high-speed Internet, we want a 4G phone, we want up-to-date information on our friends -- forget the phone call, Facebook will do. It seems like we are all pining for faster.
Somehow an old-fashioned train ride sounds peaceful. Other than rapid transit, I've never hopped a train, but something about dining in a boxcar restaurant or kicking back and watching the scenery whiz by sounds romantic.
Las Vegas was established as a railroad town in the early 1900s, and rail lines still criss-cross the state. So, will trains ever return?
With the help of a $700,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration delivered last year, the Nevada Department of Transportation is dusting off those old railroad tracks to see what shape they are in and evaluate the connections.
The endeavor is called the Nevada State Rail Plan, which department officials describe as a "document to set forth policy involving freight and passenger rail including commuter rail in the state, set priorities and strategies to enhance rail service in the state that benefits the public."
If this has piqued your interest, check out the transportation department's presentation Monday from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Desert Breeze Community Center on Spring Mountain Road.
If you have lived in Southern Nevada for any period of time, you are familiar with all the train proposals that have been floated only to remain up in the air, floating.
The DesertXpress high-speed train that will link Las Vegas to Victorville, Calif., is the closest the state has come to a new rail project, having cleared environmental hurdles last year. The greatest obstacle is funding for the $6 billion line. Although U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has visited Nevada on several occasions to tout the high-speed train, DesertXpress Enterprises has yet to receive any federal assistance.
So, is this new rail plan another far-fetched idea that will never come to fruition?
Susan Martinovich, director of the Nevada Department of Transportation said no. Tone down the giddiness. She followed that up with this: "I don't think it will happen soon."
This plan is in its infancy and it's unknown what type of trains would use the tracks, although they would likely be faster than the old-fashioned type I dreamed about earlier. The key, Martinovich said, is making sure the rail lines go somewhere.
"We don't want the train to stop in Las Vegas and then have passengers have to cross the street to the bus station dragging all their luggage," she said.
Yes, it is difficult enough to haul around my Jackpitbulladoodle in my handbag, let alone all my luggage.
"It would be really cool to have a system tied together," Martinovich said.
Tied together, meaning the goal is to connect the state's new rail system into the DesertXpress so if you live in, say, Pahrump, you can hop the train to Las Vegas, connect to the high-speed train to Victorville, then onto Palmdale, Calif., where you can catch a ride to San Francisco.
Wait, Martinovich emphasized that the train must go somewhere. As it stands, the DesertXpress stops in Victorville, and building that crucial connection to Palmdale is not a priority for California. So, if it's not likely that a passenger will walk across the street to a bus station, how likely is it that a passenger would pay $50 to ride to Victorville, then drive a rental car along the most congested portion of the commute to Southern California?
"Hopefully they thought that through," Martinovich said.
California has had all sorts of problems with its proposed $100 billion San Francisco-to-Los Angeles line. Voters approved a $10 billion bond, but have since grown skeptical of the project and its ballooning price tag. Last month, two California High-Speed Rail Authority executives stepped down. I wonder how many transit authorities to our west are thinking Palmdale.
Let's stick to the Nevada plan.
Consider this: More than 90 percent of the state's goods are trucked into Nevada. Fuel taxes have not been raised since 1993 and the Department of Transportation is struggling to find money to fix our highways.
The idea is that reviving rail transportation would allow freight to move efficiently through the state without clogging our already congested freeways. It would also provide travelers an alternate mode of transportation and save wear and tear on the freeways.
If you want some input on this idea, check out Monday's meeting. If you can't make it, log onto nvrailplan.com and punch the quick link called How to Get Involved. The transportation department has offered a few surveys for residents.
If you have a question, tip or tirade, call Adrienne Packer at 702-387-2904, or send an email to roadwarrior @reviewjournal.com. Include your phone number.
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I'm from Atlantic city. And why would anyone want to take a train from ca to Vegas. It's slow. Even high speed train is slow and dated. Bring America into the future and support the mag lev. It's faster than train. WAY Faster. Shanghai China's mag lev operates at speeds around 300 mph. Would cut the train time in half. Don't go backwards. America needs to be a world leader again.
"Tied together, meaning the goal is to connect the state's new rail system into the DesertXpress so if you live in, say, Pahrump, you can hop the train to Las Vegas, connect to the high-speed train to Victorville, then onto Palmdale, Calif., where you can catch a ride to San Francisco."
Thanks, but I would just drive to McCarran and fly to either Oakland, San Francisco or San Jose...even Stockton. Just seems easier...and probably a bit quicker (and apparently less expensive).
Your government...working to spend your tax dollars so that you can get to your destination slower and for more money! Ain't that just grand.
If you can get trains to use the current train tracks and the costs are for some relatively minor upgrades to the track and for the passenger trains themselves, then go for it. However, it really is short sighted to think of a new commuter train within cities or super train between cities as a solution to transportation problems. It is too expensive to acquire the real estate and build it out. And, from everything I have read in the last five years, autos will soon be equiped to function on their own without drivers. So you get in your car in the morning and tell Siri to take you to work and the auto pilot and your car becomes your mini-train to work while you sit in the back seat and read the iPad (i.e. newspaper).
For $700,000 you might be able to convince UP to allow the Desert Wind back on their tracks. Maybe.
Rail lines already exist between Los Angeles and Las Vegas (and Salt Lake City). Before Amtrak's budgets were cut years ago, the Desert Wind ran on it.
Rail lines exist across Northern Nevada, and are used by Amtrak's California Zephyr. What's needed is a rail line from Reno and Carson City to Las Vegas.
Could be done for less than the interest on the DesertX loan, and be a lot more useful to Nevadans. DesertX will be subsidy for Californians hoping to strike it rich in LV.
My impression is that most of the rail for conventional service currently exists, the engines and cars are probably in some lines inventory already, so the start up cost is limited.
"Libertarians made me..." has the right idea.
i wish billionaires like adelson and wynn would construct a new monorail or light rail from downtown to the airport. that would show the old monorail how obsolete it is: it goes nowhere, is inconvenient and is way overpriced to be successful.
We can't even get the monorail extended to airport. How can anyone expect the planners and legislators to constuct a passenger rail system to California - or anywhere else? That 700K grant will go to looking around for prospective better or improved freight lines - but passenger rail service in and out of Las Vegas is not going to happen in this century. There is no public will for it, no passenger demand for it, and no money for it.
A $6 Billion rail line to Victorville is useless.
Building up rail service in NV in anticipation of the rail to nowhere seems like a complete waste of resources. I think a high speed train to Los Angeles, San Diego etc would be great, but that is not the plan.
"the goal is to connect the state's new rail system into the DesertXpress so if you live in, say, Pahrump, you can hop the train to Las Vegas, connect to the high-speed train to Victorville"
Train rides are great - I've used the Amtrak Cascades line between Portland and Seattle about a dozen times now. It's about 30 minutes longer than driving, each way, but the trade-off is no stress, WiFi, beer and food. You're moving at about 80 mph for most of the trip, and you're dropped off right in the center of town. Round-trip right now it costs about $70, which is still more expensive than driving for the 180-miles-each-way trip for most drivers. (I drive an F150 so it's cheaper than driving)
The Cascades is an atypical train - it's a European-built train (that was originally supposed to be used on the Vegas-LA run in the 90s) and its schedule doesn't lend itself to getting tripped up by freight traffic. If you could get a line pushing 80 mph, I think you would plenty of people choosing comfort over convenience.