 |
Las Vegas Driving
except for...
People tend to pick up their road habits where they first learn to drive. Different places have driving patterns and customs. Las Vegas drivers come from all over the world, resulting in a rather unique mix of driving styles and habits. This may explain why many people feel the drivers in Las Vegas are the worst in the country. It's not that the drivers are so bad, it's just that you never know quite what to expect. Expect anything.
Getting around Las Vegas is fairly easy. With the exception of Downtown, and a couple of major streets, the streets are generally set up in a grid pattern, running north-south and east-west. The primary roads are spaced roughly a half mile apart, so if you miss your turn you can just take the next one and circle back. Sometimes. The city planners evidently enjoy a good joke now and then, because some streets change names, or disappear entirely at random intervals.
Right after we moved to Las Vegas, driving to the other side of town, I learned going east on Spring Mountain, would take me where I wanted to go. After crossing Las Vegas Boulevard, I discovered I was on Sands. I eventually found the street I was looking for, turned right and there was my destination. Returning home, I missed the left on Twain, because I was looking for Sands. The street had changed names once again. Las Vegas divers get used to it quickly. If you are on Martin Luther King Boulevard heading toward North Las Vegas, you'll be on Camino Al Norte after crossing Craig road. Head west on Carey from Martin Luther King, and as you cross Rancho, you'll be on Smoke Ranch. From downtown Las Vegas drive southeast on Freemont, and south of Sahara, you'll be cruising Boulder Highway. In some areas, Las Vegas driving can be even more confusing. Driving north toward Summerlin on Fort Apache, you are parallel to Durango Drive. North of Charleston, Fort Apache changes to Rampart Boulevard. Eventually, you drift almost half a mile east to Durango, the original version of that street having ended several miles south.
You're happily driving down the street your destination is on. Suddenly, the street ends at a highway, golf course, shopping center, or any other obstruction the planners have seen fit to allow. Often, but not always, it will start up again on the other side of said obstruction. Las Vegas driving can sometimes be an adventure. Our own street has two, unconnected sections. We didn't even know about the other part, until a delivery driver called to say he couldn't find our address. None of the landmarks he described seemed familiar to us. We eventually got him to our house, but it was a very confusing 10 minutes on the phone. Now we're very specific when giving directions. There is a street in our area that has three completely unconnected sections in the space of a mile. The shortest of these is only about 200 feet long. After a few months of Las Vegas driving, you'll get used to it. Get a good map, such as the Thomas Guide Las Vegas, and look at the whole route before you go someplace. An excellent interactive map can be found on the City of Las Vegas Web site.
Las Vegas is divided, roughly, into four primary areas: North, South, East and West. As nearly as I can figure, the east-west division is an imaginary line roughly in the center of town. I have yet to be able to pin it down, except to say it sometimes coincides with either Main Street or The Strip. The north-south division seems to wander around the approximate vicinity of Charleston Boulevard. When giving directions, you must specify the compass point. 3900 East Charleston, for example, is a good 5 or 6 miles from 3900 West Charleston. A local custom with Las Vegas drivers, is to ask for the closest cross streets. Once I figured it out it made sense. In a town where most of the streets for a grid, a phrase such as "Decatur and Lake Mead" or "Charleston and Buffalo" narrow down the search area considerably
When you first move to Las Vegas, you may find yourself hopelessly lost. Especially if you are out in the suburbs (they don't call them that here) Don't give up. There is a solution. Actually two solutions depending on the time of day. If you can see the Stratosphere hotel (during the day), and have at least some idea of which side of town you are on, you will know where the approximate center of the city is (Sahara and Las Vegas Boulevard). That should work as a guide to get you to an area you know. After dark, the situation is similar, but you can also use the Luxor Light. For all practical purposes, that is the intersection of Tropicana and Las Vegas Boulevard at the south end of The Strip.
Yes, it does rain sometimes in Las Vegas. Driving right after the rain starts can be interesting, to say the least. During the long dry spells, oil and grease have a chance to build up on road surfaces. When the first rains hit, they float to the top of the layer of moisture, and can take some time before washing away. It's like driving on ice. At the start of every rainstorm, the sound of spinning tires fills the air. The sight of cars, especially rear wheel drive cars, doing 180s and 360's is almost like a ballet. Try not to be one of them. Many streets are designed to help control flooding (and some just flood). This can result in surprisingly deep water, usually in the lane next to the sidewalk, and especially in intersections. I once saw a pick up truck drive through a flooded intersection at the speed limit (idiot). An entire city bus disappeared under the wall of water thrown up by his passage. In Las Vegas, driving during really heavy rains is not a good idea. When they come, it is best to stay off the roads. In some cases this is not an option. At least one underpass has a depth gauge for use during floods. As I recall, it reads to eight feet deep. There are billboards all over town admonishing Las Vegas drivers not to travel on flooded roads. Take their advice. Stay home, take another route, park right where you are, but do not drive in heavily flowing water. Unless you want to make the evening news.
While writing this page, I had some random thoughts that don't really fit anywhere, so I have added a collection of Las Vegas Driving Tips for those new to the city.
Given the cost of fuel these days, I figured you might want to see the latest Las Vegas gas prices, so I found this little thingie that updates automatically.
This page is really about driving, but it would seem to be a good place for a link to the Nevada DMV. They have all that boring stuff about how soon you need to get a new license, how to register your car, and making sure you get a smog check.
|
