Editorial: County pitches in money for beltway

Thursday, Aug. 5, 1999 | 8:59 a.m.

The Clark County Commission did the right thing on Tuesday when it decided to spend $6 million so that an important 1.9-mile segment of the Las Vegas Beltway can be finished by next year. Once the entire 53-mile beltway is completed -- hopefully by the end of 2003 -- it should help decrease traffic congestion, especially in the growing northwest, by offering motorists an alternate route ringing about three-quarters of the valley.

Originally the Howard Hughes Corp. had agreed to pay for and complete the 1.9-mile leg of the beltway connecting Cheyenne Avenue to Summerlin Parkway, but company officials said the work wouldn't be completed for at least another three years -- well beyond the county's wish to have that stretch done by the year 2000. This delay prompted the commission's decision to take over this project.

In many ways this was a no-brainer for the county commissioners. Some valley residents will question why the county should have to shoulder the excavation costs since the Howard Hughes Corp. already had committed to pay for this, but the reality is that the county didn't have much choice in the matter if it wanted to ease anytime soon the intolerable congestion that northwest valley motorists now must endure. The $6 million allocated to speed up the excavation of one segment of the beltway is money well spent in a project costing $1.5 billion overall.