Joey Bishop Drive Opens to Las Vegas Traffic

The Rat Pack is back together again — at least on Las Vegas steet maps. On Friday morning, Joey Bishop Drive got its premiere, joining Frank Sinatra Drive, Dean Martin Drive and Sammy Davis Jr. Drive as public roadways snaking around the Las Vegas Strip.

The new road runs north and south west of Interstate 15, splitting off from Dean Martin Drive, passing under the Tropicana Avenue Bridge and then reconnecting with Dean Martin Drive. It’s part of the $385 million Tropicana Avenue-Interstate 15 Interchange project.

“This roadway will improve traffic flow for decades to come and serve as a vital detour while Dean Martin Drive undergoes construction,” the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) said in a news release.

Bishop was a New York comic whose act impressed Frank Sinatra enough to invite him to become his regular warm-up act starting in 1952.

This led to a slot in the Summit, as Sinatra and his pals referred to their group of all-stars, who met on stage at the Sands to sing tunes and sling insults and then starred together in the 1960 movie “Ocean’s 11.”

That group is now known universally as the Rat Pack, a name that Sinatra despised, by the way.

Later in the ‘60s, Bishop hosted his own TV sitcom and talk show, both of which were called “The Joey Bishop Show.” Bishop was the last surviving Summit member until his death in 2007.

You’re Nobody ’til Somebody Names a Street After You

In the Summit, Sinatra was the leader. But on the map, Dean Martin Drive is the most significant. It’s the only Summit-named street to intersect with the other three.

Frank Sinatra Drive opened in 2004, six years after the “My Way” singer’s death. It was followed by Dean Martin Drive a year later, named after the “Everybody Loves Somebody” singer who died in 1995. Sammy Davis Jr. Drive opened in 2015, 25 years after the “The Candy Man” expired.

All three previous street openings were preceded by dedication celebrations attended by family members and government officials.

Joey Bishop Drive opened this morning with no such ceremony. Also, to be honest, it’s not really its own street. It’s just the old Dean Martin Drive before a new Dean Martin Drive was built as a detour around it.

There’s a joke about respect in there somewhere, probably one that mentions the phrase actually used by NDOT to describe the comedian in its news release: “often-overlooked.”

Hey, at least Bishop got a street, as Peter Lawford would probably have pointed out.