Monday, Oct. 10, 2016 | 2 a.m.
In the “Mad Men” era, elevated expressways like the one being developed by Clark County were all the rage.
Then times changed, and it turned out that expressways were a bad idea. Really, really bad. They carved up cities by creating corridors where nobody would choose to live or do business, leaving poverty, high crime rates and urban decay in their wake.
Cities around the world have torn them down. But County Commissioner Steve Sisolak and others have turned a blind eye to all of that, instead plunging ahead toward building a $200 million elevated expressway that would parallel the Strip and connect to McCarran International Airport.
As long as we’re pouring money into studying a failed concept from the ’50s and ’60s, The Sunday thinks Sisolak and his crew also should throw their weight behind these proposals:
Remove warning labels from cigarette and alcohol packaging.
Those cautions about emphysema, birth defects and the like are such downers.
Re-institute above-ground nuclear tests in the Nevada desert.
Truly a blast from the past.
Do away with safety belt requirements.
As long as we’re driving on throwback roads, might as well do it in cars boasting the full range of tailfin-era safety features — which is to say essentially none.
Bring back leaded gasoline and relax fuel mileage requirements.
It will be catastrophic for the environment, but an outmoded road deserves outmoded cars.
Dial back litter laws.
Back when people were driving lead-fueled gas hogs on elevated expressways, it was generally acceptable to throw trash out of the windows.
Bring back green lawns by paying property owners to convert their desert landscaping to grass.
We’ll drain Lake Mead, but we’ll look pretty doing it.
Replace modern playground equipment with metal slides, jungle gyms made out of steel pipe and teeter-totters.
The expressway will surely make it faster to get to the hospital, right?
OK, enough sarcasm. Obviously, no one would seriously consider these ideas.
But the same should go for spending as much as a dime on an elevated expressway.
Editor’s note: This commentary has been revised to clarify that the county has not approved construction of the expressway.
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