Spaghetti Bowl fix ahead of schedule

Scott Reeder

Wednesday, April 14, 1999 | 11:06 a.m.

Traffic jams on the Spaghetti Bowl are beginning to disappear.

Just last month, the first ramp of the upgraded interchange opened and later this month the ribbon for another one will be cut -- five months ahead of schedule.

In fact, the contractor for the project says the entire interchange upgrade may be completed six months early.

"If everything goes well, we could be done in May of 2000 instead of October. The main reason for this is good planning and lots of hard work from everybody involved," said Tom Patton, project manager for Meadow Valley Contractors.

Just about any Las Vegas driver knows that navigating the Spaghetti Bowl can be an exercise in utter aggravation. At times, especially during prime commute hours, the interchange can resemble a parking lot more than a vital link on an expressway.

On March 30, northbound traffic on Interstate 15 began taking a new, high-speed ramp to reach the westbound lanes of U.S. 95. During the last week of this month, a ramp linking the eastbound lanes of U.S. 95 with the southbound lanes of I-15 will open.

A ribbon cutting for the ramp is scheduled for April 27, but the ramp may actually open to traffic later that week, Scott Magruder, of the Nevada Department Transportation, said.

"Those ramps will handle the crux of the traffic going through the interchange," said Bob McKenzie, a spokesman for NDOT.

The reason these two ramps are so important is clear: they link the jobs on the Las Vegas Strip with the sprawling residential developments in the northwest part of the city.

"This is the largest project of its kind that the department has ever been involved in," McKenzie said. "People are seeing a dramatic improvement in the traffic right now. When the second ramp is complete it will get even better."

"This is just an incredible improvement," said Ben Cass, NDOT's resident engineer. "Cars are zipping through the interchange going 60 mph down the new ramp. A month ago, those cars would have been just sitting parked in the interchange during rush hour."

McKenzie said while cars may be traveling 60 mph on the ramp, the department strongly encourages motorists to observe the posted speed limit of 45 mph.

Cass said the optimum capacity for the older, one-lane ramps is less than 1,000 cars per hour. But new two-lane ramps will be able to easily handle at least 3,000 cars each hour, he said.

When the Spaghetti Bowl was built in 1969, it was designed to handle fewer than 30,000 vehicles each day. Now on a typical day, more than 330,000 vehicles use it.

When the interchange is complete it will be able to handle 375,000 cars.

Patton declined to disclose target dates for the completion of the other six ramps on the interchange.

The interchange carries a $115 million pricetag. Of that, $22.7 million went toward design and land acquisition costs.

About 90 percent of the funding for the highway portion of the interchange (excluding flood control) came from the federal government. The state paid the remaining 10 percent.

Cass said state-of-the-art engineering is being used in the construction of the interchange.

Some of the overpasses in the project are being constructed with pre-cast concrete segments. By using pre-cast pieces, which are being put in place with a special crane, existing traffic lanes will not have to be closed for extended periods like they would if conventional construction methods were employed.

Because the ramp to open this month is being completed five months ahead of schedule, NDOT will award Meadow Valley a bonus of $875,000, Patton said.

"There are different schools of thought on giving bonuses for completing work early," Magruder said. "We try to do what benefits the taxpayers the most. I think the average taxpayer, who is stuck in traffic, would think paying a bonus to have a ramp open early is money well spent."