Trash buildup on and around the 215 Beltway in the Las Vegas Valley has become a growing problem as cleaning schedules for the freeway aren’t set as often as needed.

Growing tired of the eyesore and safety hazard, Clark County Commission chairman Michael Naft is working toward cleaning up the mess.

After he took over as chairman in January, Naft has been aiming to get back to focusing on fundamental local government actions. One of those is to make sure Southern Nevada roads are safe, which includes keeping them free of debris.

“Cleaning our roads calls to not just the aesthetic and the way they look and make community members feel, but it’s also a safety issue when you have crap in the road and it’s causing problems for vehicles and maintenance issues for vehicles,” Naft said. “That is just a pure quality of life issue for me.”

In 2005, the county began a twice per month street sweeping schedule on the 215, Naft said. That cleaning schedule lasted until the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, moving to a once per month when traffic volumes on area roads plummeted. Now that traffic has returned to normal levels, with the once per month sweeping remaining in place, Naft said the matter needs to be addressed.

Naft said he drives the 215 every day and sees the trash firsthand, while also receiving complaints from his constituents. He knew the time was right to address the issue.

“The 215 Beltway, which has an enormous volume of traffic and is something that everybody who lives here, most people who live here use and rely on, has only has gone from in 2005 being swept twice a month to post-recession once a month,” Naft said. “While in that same period of time, our population’s gone from 1.7 to 2.4 million people. You think about the development that’s occurred along the 215 Beltway in that amount of time, you would think that county leaders would have doubled the amount of service and attention that the Beltway has gotten, not cut it in half.”

The county is also buying three new street sweepers to use on the 215, replacing three of the four in the fleet. The trio of new sweepers will not only be more efficient, but they will also reduce the amount of maintenance required, because the three sweepers being replaced were often in need of repairs, Naft said.

Adding the new street sweepers won’t affect the county’s fiscal budget, as there is a separate fund for the vehicles, Naft noted. The new sweepers are expected to be in use within the next 45 days.

In all, the county has 28 street sweepers in its fleet for use throughout the Las Vegas Valley. The Las Vegas Strip, for instance, sees daily street sweeping operations.

Aside from the street sweeping activities that the county carries out, Naft also called for an audit of the county contractor who maintains the 215, including items that are too large to be cleaned up with a street sweeper.

Naft wants to ensure the public is getting what they’re paying for out of their tax dollars, with an audit hearing scheduled for Oct. 28.

“The audit is strictly related to the landscaping contract,” Naft said. “So that’s all big trash material, things like a couch on the side of the road, anything a street sweeper can’t pick up, but it’s also the sections of roads that a street sweeper can’t get to. So the rocks, the weeds, the fencing, all of that is done by the contract. And that’s what I’m examining through the audit committee.”

With the two maintenance items being among the most important on Naft’s agenda this year, he wants to ensure Southern Nevadans that their elected officials are looking out for them and ensuring they are getting the level of service they expect.

“I think this is such a fundamental core responsibility of local government, both in that it is a safety and quality of life issue and that it is a fiscal responsibility,” Naft said. “Taxpayers trust us to spend their money wisely and when we have contracts, contractors who are performing work for us, we need to stay on top of it and make sure that those contracts are being overseen and that the work is being done effectively.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X. Send questions and comments to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com.