Courtesy of RTC
An artist’s rendering shows the look of the Reimagine Boulder Highway project.
Wednesday, November 24, 2021 | 2 a.m
The $ 1.2 trillion Infrastructure and Employment Bill that President Joe Biden signed last week opens billions in grants over the next five years to projects that make roads safer.
It comes at a dire time for Nevada, with 315 people killed in road traffic in 2021, up 24% from 2020, according to the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada.
In addition, about 50 pedestrians have been killed in Clark County and the number of motorcycle deaths has increased 47%. The death toll among cyclists has increased by 300% and that of scooters and mopeds by 300%.
The RTC, which is expected to begin applying for grants in the first or second quarter of 2022, will seek funding for advanced intersection analysis that assesses the speed of drivers, red light races and pedestrian movements, said MJ Maynard, chief executive officer of the RTC. It identifies the major problem areas and where near misses occur.
The data collected will be shared with other jurisdictions and used to propose technical design solutions, Maynard said.
Although traffic and transportation officials say it’s too early to pin down the exact amounts they’re looking for for grant funding, they plan to apply for as many grants as possible in a few months’ time.
“The goal here is to get as much federal funding as possible back into the state of Nevada,” Maynard said. “We have a great Grant team and they are very aggressive. I always say they smell money and we go after them. “
The RTC will also seek additional funding to buy virtual mirrors for city buses, Maynard said. Large, protruding side mirrors on local buses are problematic, she said, and could hit things or miss blind spots.
Virtual mirrors will eliminate blind spots for bus operators, increasing safety for passengers, pedestrians and other vehicles on the road.
“We will apply for as many grants as possible,” Maynard said.
The RTC will receive more than $ 150 million in new funding – aside from grants that they will apply for – to improve roads and transit through various projects, said Justin Jones, vice chairman of the RTC’s board of commissioners and Member of the Clark County Commission.
With new funding, the RTC will update all of its central traffic light control software and expand its signal control pilot program, which was set up on Eastern Avenue and uses real-time information from cameras and other machines to adjust signal patterns based on the state of traffic, rather than working on a fixed schedule said Maynard.
Not only does it cut travel time, but it also reduces the likelihood of drivers going through red lights and causing accidents, Maynard said.
The RTC is not the only agency looking for grants to improve road safety.
Andrew Bennett, Public Information Officer for the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety, said it will seek funding to increase accident data collection as well as its Joining Forces program, which works with 26 agencies to focus on key behaviors, that causes accidents, such as driving and distracted driving, Bennett said.
They will also seek additional overtime funding for law enforcement agencies to increase their presence on the streets, Bennett said.
The office would also like more funding to increase the traffic safety announcements that appear on television, radio and in traditional advertisements.
Bennett said the Road Safety Bureau did not have an exact breakdown of how much money it would get through the infrastructure bill, but only said it was a “significant” amount.
The funding proposal will provide the Nevada State Highway Fund with $ 2.5 billion over five years to maintain and build new roads and meet the needs of cyclists, motorists, pedestrians, and public transportation users, according to that Nevada Department of Transportation.
“It will save us time, it will save lives, and it will save Nevadans’ hard earned money,” said Nevada Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen.
