LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — After years of questions and concerns from neighbors, a new traffic signal at a busy intersection in the southwest valley near Desert Oasis High School has been activated just in time for the start of the new school year.
I was there as the new light was turned on and watched the first drivers get to experience it.
Cactus Avenue and Torrey Pines is the major intersection that takes students, parents and teachers to Desert Oasis, which is tucked away in a Southern Highlands neighborhood to the southeast of the intersection.
On Tuesday morning, Clark County officials activated a new traffic signal there, an intersection that sees more than 13,000 vehicles pass through each day.
Here's my live report of the traffic signal activation
Kimberly Brock, a longtime southwest valley resident and DO mom, was in attendance at Tuesday morning's activation ceremony and knows the dangers of the intersection first hand.
"When my older daughter was in high school, she was actually hit coming down Cactus, hit by another car," she told me. "It was a very serious accident."
It was that incident that prompted Brock to call Clark Commissioner Justin Jones, telling him a signal needs to be put in at Cactus and Torrey Pines.
Her call got the ball rolling, but the process wasn't quick — fast forward three years later, and the signal is now active.
I asked Jones in an interview why it took three years from Brock's call to get the light activated.
"We have to make sure that we go through a traffic study, and make sure we have the funding and design for a project like this," Jones told me. "It takes a little bit, longer than any of us would like, but the important thing is that today students, teachers and parents are able to safely travel through this intersection."
This signal has been highly anticipated by those who live nearby for years — I actually had a viewer email me over the weekend to ask about it.
"I'm curious if you could find out what's taking so long to get the traffic signal working at the corner of Cactus and Torrey Pines," the email from viewer Linda said. "It was started before the new Costco, that store is opening in just a couple weeks and yet this traffic light is still not turned on!"
Well, now we have an update for Linda, and with signals to manage traffic flow in all four directions, the roads will hopefully be a little easier to manage.
It's a full-circle moment for Kimberly Brock: "Just knowing the community is safer is a good feeling," she said.
"This traffic signal is more than steel and wires — it's a promise kept to families,” said Commissioner Jones in a Clark County news release. “For every parent dropping off a student at Desert Oasis High School, for every neighbor who’s had to dodge speeding cars, today we’re saying: No more close calls. My deepest thanks to constituents like Kim Brock for advocating for change, to our Clark County Public Works team for their swift action, and to all who recognize that lives are at stake on our roadways."
