Highway project excludes site of tragic accident

A construction project to widen State Route 160 is scheduled to begin next summer, but it won't include the portion where five people died in a head-on collision Sunday afternoon.

The $75 million Nevada Department of Transportation project will provide a new interchange where State Route 160, also known as Blue Diamond Road, meets Interstate 15, and will widen the roadway from four to six lanes between I-15 and Rainbow Boulevard.

What it won't do is expand the two-lane section of the road that stretches between the Spring Mountains and State Route 159, the highway to Blue Diamond and Red Rock Canyon.

"About 9,600 cars a day travel that road between Pahrump and Interstate 15," NDOT spokesman Bob McKenzie said. "Right now there just isn't enough traffic out there to justify further widening the road. In 20 years, maybe.

"If we see a huge population growth in Pahrump, we may have to expand, but we don't see the need for that in the immediate future."

State Route 160 has already been widened to four lanes from Pahrump to the Spring Mountains, which has cut down on the number of head-on collisions on that part of the roadway, Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Alan Davidson said.

Sunday's accident occurred about 3:50 p.m., when a Dodge Spirit traveling from Las Vegas to Pahrump crossed the double yellow line into oncoming traffic and collided with a GMC Jimmy about two miles east of the intersection of 160 and 159, Davidson said.

Three people in the Spirit were killed in the accident: the driver, Fidel Gonzalez-O'Donovan, 40, of Las Vegas, Megan Whitehead, 6, of Pahrump, and Elesa Anderson, 33, of Las Vegas.

An 11-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy in the car were injured and were taken to University Medical Center. The 11-year-old boy was in fair condition and the 13-year-old boy was in critical condition this morning.

Lynda Hall, the 35-year-old driver of the Jimmy, and her 68-year-old passenger, Caroline Krecklow, also were killed.

Three passengers in the Jimmy were recovering this morning in UMC. Cacey Krecklow, 26, was in serious condition, a 1-year-old girl was in fair condition and a 6-year-old girl was in critical condition.

Between January 1995 and December 1999, 31 fatal accidents have occurred on 160 between I-15 and Pahrump, McKenzie said. Nine of those accidents were head-on collisions that resulted in 13 deaths. So far this year two fatal accidents, including Sunday's collision, have occurred on the roadway resulting in six deaths.

Sunday's accident was just the latest multifatality crash on Clark County roadways this year.

On March 8 a van carrying 13 people left I-15 and drove into a ditch near Jean after the driver apparently fell asleep. Eight people in the van were killed.

On March 19 six teenagers in a highway cleanup crew were killed when a minivan drove into the center median of I-15 near the Las Vegas Speedway. Jessica Williams, 21, has been charged in the deaths of the teenagers and is accused of being under the influence of marijuana and the hallucinogenic drug Ecstasy.

Sun reporter Keith Paul contributed to this report.

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