Pahrump man dies days after rollover crash on Highway 160
A Pahrump driver died days after a rollover on Highway 160, renewing scrutiny of a corridor that has seen repeated ejection crashes.
Marcelo Guevara-Tlatelpa, 58, of Pahrump, died Friday, May 22, days after a rollover crash on State Route 160 that left him with life-threatening injuries. Nevada State Police said the wreck happened at about 11:10 p.m. Wednesday, May 13, near mile marker 25 in Clark County, when a northbound Nissan Frontier left the roadway, entered the center dirt median and overturned after the driver steered right and lost control.
Investigators said the truck struck a cable barrier in the rollover. Guevara-Tlatelpa was not restrained and was ejected from the vehicle before being flown by air ambulance for emergency treatment. His death was the 32nd traffic-related fatality in Nevada State Police Highway Patrol Southern Command’s jurisdiction this year, adding another grim mark to a corridor that many Pahrump residents use every day to reach Las Vegas.
State Route 160 is the main travel corridor between Las Vegas and Pahrump, and the Nevada Department of Transportation has said the upgraded rural highway segment averages about 8,600 vehicles a day. NDOT completed a $59 million, two-year widening project on a 6-mile stretch of SR 160 in southwest Clark County in 2020, but the agency has continued studying the broader SR 160 and SR 159 corridor for future improvements as growth pushes farther out from the Las Vegas Valley.
That study area runs about 70 miles along SR 160 from Las Vegas Boulevard to Roadrunner Road in Pahrump, along with about 16 miles of SR 159 from the SR 160 junction to CC-215 in Summerlin. NDOT has said the work is meant to identify future enhancements for drivers and other users as traffic increases along the route.
The latest death also fits a pattern that has long drawn concern on Highway 160. The Las Vegas Review-Journal has described SR 160 as one of Southern Nevada’s more dangerous roads, and a Dec. 24, 2024 rollover on Pahrump Valley Highway, also part of SR 160, killed 64-year-old David Gregory Roberts after he was ejected from his SUV. Statewide, Nevada recorded 386 roadway deaths in 2023, the second-deadliest year on state roads since 2006, according to state data cited in local reporting.
For Nye County commuters, the lesson on Highway 160 is unchanged: on a long rural route where speed, darkness and roadway geometry can turn a mistake into a fatal crash, seat belts remain one of the few protections that can still make a difference.
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