LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — An accident waiting to happen. A few Chinatown businesses are saying frequent jaywalking on a busy corridor of Spring Mountain Road is putting both drivers and pedestrians at risk. It comes as it continues to be popular with locals and tourists.
“Someone’s going to get hurt here," said Joe Muscalione, a managing partner at Shanghai Taste in Shanghai Plaza. "If they don’t do something about it.”
It’s scenes like this that has Muscalione shaking his head. People are jaywalking on Spring Mountain Road between Chinatown Plaza and Shanghai plaza. Muscalione says it happens too often with the amount of traffic.
“It’s nonstop," Muscalione said. "If you’re trying to make a left turn here any day of the week, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., you’re stuck here for ten minutes.”
Doris Tam, a stylist at Kingdom Hair Salon in the same plaza, agrees saying she frequently sees tourists jaywalking, especially on holidays and weekends.
“A lot of people coming, and tour people pass the street. Very dangerous,” Tam said.
To properly cross the street between the two plazas, you have two options: the crosswalk at the intersection with Arville, and the other at Wynn road. However, business owners say they have seen way too many people not use these crosswalks because they want to save time by jaywalking.
“How are the tourists supposed to know?" Muscaglione said. "They run across the street, they’re on vacation. So, they don’t know."
A solution is in the works by putting a potential crosswalk between the two plazas. Former Asian Chamber of Commerce president Sonny Vinuya has been advocating for a pedestrian crossing sign before the pandemic and has spoken to Clark County officials.
“I think traffic will be better because people won’t have to worry about parking anymore," Vinuya said. "Once they see it’s full, they can just park across.”
Muscaglione says it is a good start to deter future jaywalkers.
“It would be a blessing and it’s going to save lives,” he said.
Clark County officials say public works is reviewing the crosswalk proposal and will do research on traffic patterns and take a look at the number of people who cross the street in this area.
This could take several months to a year, long before any sort of actual construction.
