The paving of a northern entrance to Desert View Hospital was approved by Nye County commissioners Tuesday, but not a right-turn only sign at Oxbow and Wilson avenues at the junction with Highway 160.

The Regional Transportation Commission approved spending up to $100,000 from the quarter-cent public transit fund for paving 1,760 feet of Lola Lane from Basin Avenue south to the hospital, a project estimated to cost $72,000. Developer Hollis Harris offered to contribute $44,000, depending on the final cost.

Commissioners approved a suggestion to replace stop signs at the entrance to Highway 160 off the Frontage Road between Basin Avenue and Oxbow Avenue, and replace them with stop signs on Frontage Road itself where motorists meet the access to Highway 160. Interim Public Works Director Dave Fanning said the stop signs right on the small access road to Highway 160 could cause a traffic backup.

But Fanning couldn't convince commissioners of a solution to what he said was an unsafe situation of motorists wanting to make left-hand turns onto Highway 160 from Wilson and Oxbow avenues.

John Koenig, a member of the Nye County Capital Improvements Plan Advisory Committee, said banning left-hand turns would cause people to make U-turns if they can't turn left onto Highway 160.

"It seems like an easy solution to a problem but it isn't," Koenig said.

Fanning said the Nevada Department of Transportation talked about putting curbing in the middle of Highway 160 at that intersection to block motorists from turning left from Wilson or Oxbow.

"They didn't want to do that because it restricts traffic, on how the town gets around. It's very similar to what was done in front of the Pahrump Nugget. You had some residents who were up in arms. They put that up across from McDonald's," Fanning said.

Commissioners had already approved the no-right-turn option before Koenig spoke. But Commissioner Lorinda Wichman asked to reconsider the item and made the motion not to ban left-hand turns after the discussion.

Koenig said NDOT statistics show that of 19 accidents at that intersection from 2006 to 2008, 19 were caused by motorists turning left onto Highway 160.