Spaghetti Bowl ramp to open

Tuesday, April 27, 1999 | 10:21 a.m.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of Spaghetti Bowl ramp, which carries traffic from U.S. 95 eastbound to the southbound lanes of Interstate 15, was to be held at 2 p.m. today.

Nevada Department of Transportation spokesman Bob McKenzie said motorists will be able to use the ramp sometime after the evening rush hour, when final striping and removal of barriers are completed.

Capacity of the two-lane ramp will be 3,600 vehicles an hour, McKenzie said.

Last month a flyover ramp from I-15 15 north to westbound 95 opened.

The next step in the Spaghetti Bowl project is the Martin Luther King Boulevard off-ramp from I-15 north, which should be completed this summer. All work on the Spaghetti Bowl is expected to be done by summer 2000.

While traffic may flow a little smoother through the Spaghetti Bowl after today, it will be a little rougher on I- 15 near the new Hacienda Avenue bridge.

Several travel lanes and ramps will be detoured and closed at that location during the night and early morning hours through Friday.

The restrictions, which will be in effect from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. through Friday morning, are necessary to allow the finishing girder and paint work on the bridge, highway department officials say.

The primary work zone will be on I-15 between Tropicana Avenue and Russell Road. Travel lanes on I-15 will be reduced to two lanes in both directions for the duration of the project, and the Tropicana on-ramp to southbound I-15 will also be closed.