Thursday, March 27, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Residents living along U.S. 95 are calling for transportation officials to consider alternatives to widening the car-clogged expressway.
About 50 citizens gathered Wednesday night at the Masonic Memorial Temple near Rancho Drive and U.S. 95 to protest the widening plan that will require the removal of 175 homes, 115 apartments and 21 businesses.
The widening, prompted by massive growth in the northwest valley, also threatens an ancient historical site on Las Vegas Valley Water District property.
The neighbors rallied around Sue Brna, who resigned her leadership of the Charleston Heights Neighborhood Association and planned to file today to run for the Las Vegas City Council.
"I believe from the bottom of my heart this is the dumbest idea they've ever come up with," Brna told the crowd.
Brna said the Nevada Department of Transportation announced plans to widen the highway and a week later the City Council endorsed the widening plan, with Councilman Michael McDonald the lone dissenting vote.
Air pollution, noise and plummeting property values all concern those living near the highway.
"There is not enough money, there is no reason to build a damn road," senior citizen Thomas Dudmon said.
He expressed a unanimous sentiment held by those attending the meeting. Why build more roads when alternate solutions are out there?
"Increasing pollution is not the solution," said resident Jean Withers.
Suggestions ranged from finding an alternative route through undeveloped areas to turning Charleston Boulevard and Sahara Avenue into one-way streets.
Ken Mahal, leader of the Nevada Seniors Coalition, suggested using existing steel poles and trusses to build a personal transport system operated by computer. Each car could carry one to four people and the track for it could run from the airport to the Strip resorts, downtown to the suburbs, he said.
From 15,000 to 20,000 new jobs could be created by making and selling the system in Southern Nevada, he said.
The individual transport system would carry 7,200 people an hour and relieve four lanes of traffic, he said. A pilot project operates in Seoul, South Korea, he said.
Mahal said he designed such a personal transport system when The Mirage was under construction in 1989 to avoid a costly monorail. But no official showed interest, he said.
Homeowners along U.S. 95 are tacking banners onto their roofs to tell anyone flying over the valley that they don't want the highway, even if $300 million in federal funds becomes available. However, the Federal Highway Administration and the Transportation Department have not approved it yet.
"We still have another chance to stop it," Brna said.
The citizen unrest caught the eye of an NBC television crew from Burbank, Calif. The meeting was filmed for the "Today" show and is set to air at 7 a.m. April 7 on KVBC Channel 3.
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