Nevada to add $3.75 million to roads

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 1998 | 10:18 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Department of Transportation board agreed Tuesday to add more than $37.5 million to its construction schedule for Clark County roads this year, including planning to serve the growing development north on U.S. 95 in Las Vegas.

Transportation Director Tom Stephens said there will be a "town center" stretching about 2 1/2 to three miles from Ann Road to Durango Drive which will include residential and commercial zones along the freeway.

The department will begin spending $1.5 million for preliminary engineering studies to build a six-lane overpass at Tropical Parkway; an overpass at Elkhorn Road; and interchanges at Durango Drive and the North Beltway Interchange.

Stephens said this would permit the state to get a little ahead in serving this developing area, rather than just reacting to the growth.

Kent Cooper, manager of NDOT's program development, said other Clark County projects include:

* the widening of Interstate 15 from four to six lanes from the Henderson-Lake Mead Drive interchange to the Southern Beltway at an estimated cost of $20 million;

* adding sound barrier walls along U.S. 95 in Henderson from Wagonwheel Drive to Lake Mead Drive;

* and widening the final segment of State Route 160 to Pahrump at an estimated cost of $10 million.

The state will spend an additional $2.6 million this year for preliminary engineering, right of way and start-up construction on a northbound lane on I-15 between Sahara and Charleston.

Cooper said this will mean there will be four lanes each direction on I-15 for motorists traveling between Spring Mountain Road and the Spaghetti Bowl.

Cooper said local governments are going to chip in on the cost of several of these jobs.

When the transportation board adopted its 1998 construction program in September, the Clark County Regional Transportation Commission had not completed its local program because of air quality issues, Cooper said.

Once the county finished its work, the projects were included in the state's list.

In other action, the board allowed NDOT to sell at public auction or direct sale surplus property owned by the state at the northwest and southeast quadrants of the Wagonwheel Interchange in Henderson. The land, originally acquired for construction of the interchange, is no longer needed.

The board also authorized the department to proceed with condemnation of additional land needed for the reconstruction of the Spaghetti Bowl in Las Vegas.

The property is owned by Union Pacific and is needed for the relocation Nevada Power Co. and Sprint-Centel utilities. Both easements are within the existing right-of-way of F Street and Mesquite Avenue in Las Vegas.