By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
It’s well documented via Metro Police crackdowns that some motorists in Las Vegas do not feel it’s necessary to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks.
Well, a local Las Vegas crosswalk that is expected to be a quite busy in four months could use some extra attention.
The new Las Vegas Ballpark, a $150 million top-shelf minor league baseball venue in Summerlin in Clark County, is scheduled to open April 9.
I stroll by the ball yard construction site every day during morning walks, reaching the ballpark from the Downtown Summerlin shopping center parking lot via a crosswalk that crosses a roundabout on Pavilion Center Drive.
This crosswalk, the roundabout and Pavilion Center Drive all need some serious traffic calming and motorist alert signs quickly because I have personally experienced southbound Pavilion Center Drive motorists barrelling into the roundabout at the ballpark and not yielding to me in the crosswalk. Northbound motorists also drive too fast into the roundabout and can threaten the safety of peds walking in the crosswalk.
ADDITION TO STORY AFTER CONTACTING HOWARD HUGHES CORPORATION: From Howard Hughes PR Rep Melissa Warren:
“Flashers will be installed at crosswalks near the roundabouts. The contractor will be announced next week.
“There is also a plan to have crossing guards on all game days/nights.”
One southbound Pavilion Center Drive motorist did stop, screeching his car to a halt at the crosswalk and poking his head through the driver window to scream at me for having the audacity to be crossing the roundabout in the crosswalk.
Dangerous motorist behavior is nothing new in Las Vegas. There are drunk, impaired, distracted, incompetent and impatient motorists operating their vehicles on metro roads all the time.
But the potential for tragedy is there when you mix speeding motorists with pedestrians trying to cross a busier Pavilion Center Drive — a key Summerlin north-south, four-land road offering access to Downtown Summerlin, the Golden Knights training center and now the Las Vegas Aviators’ new ballpark in four months.
LVSportsBiz.com is concerned about the pedestrian safety issues about the roundabout crosswalk to reach the ball yard and wrote the following letter to Howard Hughes Corporation, team, Clark County and Hunt-Penta (construction manager) representatives. Howard Hughes Corp., Summerlin’s master developer, is building the $150 million, 10,000-fan, 22-suite ball yard, with the LVCVA public tourism agency giving Howard Hughes $80 million for a “naming rights” sponsorship deal. Here’s the letter sent Wednesday:
Hi folks. Every day I walk by the ballpark construction site on South Pavilion Center Drive and the venue looks like it’s coming along. In fact, I publish many photos of the ballpark construction from my daily walks on my LVSportsBiz.com social media.
LVSportsBiz.com will publish any responses and will keep you posted on any Pavilion Center pedestrian improvements at the ballpark.
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In other local sports facility news, the Raiders will hold a groundbreaking for its new $100 million headquarters in Henderson on Jan. 14.
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