Sunday, August 2, 2015

Sometimes Numbers Do Lie

From the LVRJ:
It's hard to ignore the copper-colored arena under construction off Tropicana Avenue near Interstate 15. Through its construction phases, the privately financed $375 million arena has been showing up everywhere on social media and drawing stares from motorists at the I-15-Tropicana exchange.
But while Las Vegas residents eagerly await the arena's debut in April, they're also bracing for the traffic and parking challenges the sports and entertainment venue will pose.
The 20,000-seat arena fits snugly on a 14.5-acre site bounded by the New York-New York parking garage on the east, the Monte Carlo garage on the north, Tropicana Avenue on the south and Frank Sinatra Drive on the west.
But no new parking garages or major lots are being built for the arena. And valley residents are already feeling the angst....
When Sisolak says "traffic is an issue," that's a polite way of saying several thousand more cars will be visiting the arena's already-busy immediate vicinity, which includes the region's second-busiest intersection — Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. The extra cars will add to the 15,500 vehicles that already pass through the intersection each hour on Friday nights.  http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/game-time-the-arena-now-where-are-we-going-park
15,500 cars in 1 hour?
Well, I drove through the intersection many times on a Friday night.  First, traffic crawls, doing about 5-10 mph in both directions.
But let's run the numbers:
15,500 cars an hour.
That translates to 258 cars a minute.
Which translates to 4 cars every second or 1 car every quarter second.
Not happening, especially at that intersection.
Now, the article was written by Alan Snel.  Now, was he given false information from a government agency, like NDOT?  And if so, why didn't he question the 15,500 number given to him?
Was it a misprint?  If so, why didn't the LVRJ correct it?
Or perhaps, Mr. Snel is such a go get'em reporter, that he spent a couple of Friday nights at Trop. and L.V. Blvd hand counting the cars.
Whatever it is, this is just another instance of poor journalism that has been infecting America's newsroom.
No wonder people are putting their trust to on-line news reporters, bloggers and just about everyone else.

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