I sometimes wonder if I missed my calling of being a traffic engineer. I notice many issues around Las Vegas. The most important may be along the Las Vegas Strip. One suggestion is to close the Strip to cars. Last month, I wrote about why that is an absurd idea.
Last week, Kristina and I stayed at Planet Hollywood. It was great, but the sidewalks around it are an obstacle course. In addition to the usual nuisances, I noticed several pedestrian crossings that are in immediate need of attention.
Bellagio crosswalk signals defy pedestrian common sense
The Bellagio intersection with Las Vegas Blvd was poorly designed. Its entrance should have been aligned with Paris. We can only work with what we have though.
When traffic is turning left out of Bellagio on a green light, the crosswalk is also green for pedestrians crossing Las Vegas Blvd. There is a green right turn arrow out of Bellagio for southbound Las Vegas Strip traffic at the same time. This is where the problem lies.
Pedestrians cross here and end up in a triangle between the right and left turn lanes that is often not large enough for all the people. Some pedestrians don’t pay attention to the fact that there is a don’t walk signal across the right turn island as it has a green arrow. Nearly every time I walk through here, I see a close call where a pedestrian walks out in front of cars that have a green light.
If a pedestrian does it from the Cosmopolitan side of the sidewalk, they can’t be seen by an oncoming driver until they go around the bend. There are many errors made by pedestrians here.
The right turn arrow holds both during the green light exiting Bellagio and the green arrow going from northbound Las Vegas Blvd and Bellagio. This is more time than the southbound Bellagio traffic needs, which creates the breaks that fool pedestrians. If the right turn arrow was only green when the left arrow into Bellagio from northbound Las Vegas Blvd was green, and not when the crosswalk is green while traffic exits left out of Bellagio, this problem would be resolved.
Paris Las Vegas and Las Vegas Blvd
As noted earlier, this intersection design is terrible. It could use a fix. Removing the median between the Paris and Bellagio signals and synchronizing it with Bellagio so that both exiting traffic turn left at the same time is the answer. That would require a pedestrian bridge, which creates its own issues. Until then, I have an idea.
The problem is that the left turning traffic out of Paris and Bellagio get in each other’s way. After the green light to turn left out of Paris ends, the signal must turn briefly green for northbound traffic to get the cars that exited Bellagio out of the intersection. This lasts about 12-15 seconds. This is not long enough for a walk signal.
During this time, pedestrians stand around and wonder why they can’t cross as there is a don’t walk signal. About 10 seconds in, people start to give up and cross the Paris entrance, assuming the walk signal is broken. Then the light for northbound turns red to give way to the left turn arrow into Paris. Now, three lanes of traffic are coming right at these pedestrians.
The solution here is to let the northbound side have two green cycles that are equal in time. The turn arrow can run in the middle. This allows two cycles for pedestrians to cross. It removes the thought process behind thinking the walk signal is broken and crossing right as cars get a green arrow to enter the crosswalk.
Flamingo Road between Bally’s and Cromwell
This crosswalk is the least traveled of the ones I mention. However, it is probably the most dangerous. At some point, a traffic engineer decided that a good place for a crosswalk signal was immediately between two exits where cars can only turn right. Drivers come out of Bally’s and Cromwell onto Flamingo Road looking to their left to make a right turn. Nearly every time I cross here, I watch a car pull out of one of these exits and through the red light at the crosswalk.
My guess is that jaywalking was a major problem here before the signal. However, it seems that the cheapest way out of it won. The crosswalk needs to be moved about 100 feet towards Las Vegas Blvd, with a rebuilding of the sidewalk ramp on the Cromwell side. This way, cars don’t turn right immediately into a crosswalk.
