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Nevada, California authorities teaming up to keep highways safe over Memorial Day weekend

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Posted at 1:39 PM, May 27, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-28 00:37:49-04

NEVADA (KTNV) — On Memorial Day Weekend 2021, the Nevada Highway Patrol says it will be joining forces with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the California Highway Patrol targeting the highly traveled traffic corridors between California and Las Vegas.

The NHP says an estimated 45,000 vehicles on average enter Nevada on Interstate 15 from Southern California on a daily basis, which equates to an average in excess of 16 million vehicles entering every year.

With the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, the Las Vegas-Los Angeles traffic has increased to pre-COVID levels, according to authorities. The Memorial Day holiday weekend is one of the busiest travel weekends of the year and all agencies say they want all travelers to arrive safely at their holiday destination.

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On Friday, NHP and CHP will concentrate enforcement efforts near Primm, Nev., and St. Rose Parkway. Travelers are reminded from Primm to St. Rose Parkway is designated a “Zero Tolerance” zone.

NHP says most minor traffic infractions will be enforced during the busy holiday weekend on this portion of I-15 with the goal of both agencies to increase overall safety and to have zero fatalities on roadways.

This stretch of I-15 was once considered one of the deadliest stretches of highway in the country. With the collaborative efforts of two agencies, authorities say they have managed to reduce the number of fatal crashes through enforcement and education.

On May 31, combined enforcement activity will also expand to include U.S. 95 south of Boulder City. There will be extra patrols (NHP, LVMPD and CHP) as frequent traffic jams in Primm on I-15 forces several drivers to take U.S. 95 to travel south from Las Vegas to the Los Angeles area.

Additional speed enforcement patrols are expected to be added throughout these areas and the agencies say they will target speeders, “shoulder runners”, move over law violators, distracted driving violations, seat belt violations, and more.

The CHP reports it will focus its efforts on the California side of I-15 and Nipton Road and will include the use of a fixed-winged aircraft that measures speed from the air.