Blue Diamond Highway expansion revealed

Wednesday, July 28, 1999 | 10:57 a.m.

George Olcott moved to Las Vegas in 1959 and three times since then has moved around the valley to escape booming growth.

A bittersweet smile crossed his lips Tuesday night as he and other residents of rural Enterprise in southern Clark County got their first look at the Nevada Department of Transportation's initial plans for the $45 million expansion of State Route 160, the Blue Diamond Highway.

"This widening project is overdue, it's inevitable, and it is the precursor for commercial development of the southwest," Olcott said. "There will be less and less wide open spaces."

Olcott moved from Los Angeles to Alta Drive and Shadow Lane when it was sparsely populated. He then moved to West Sahara and Rainbow when it was being developed. He moved to Spring Valley in its early stages and finally to Enterprise.

However, some of the more than 100 people attending the informal meeting at the Enterprise Library to view the plans, which NDOT officials say can change as public comment is gathered, were not so saddened by what they saw.

"I think it is fabulous that the state is taking such an aggressive move to help develop the last bastion of the Las Vegas frontier," said Mitchell Oxman, who plans to develop his property at Blue Diamond Road and Rainbow Boulevard as a commercial venture.

"Yes I am a Las Vegan who is pro-growth. I say if you want to live in the wide open spaces move to Pahrump."

Oxman's business partner Eddie Gutzman agreed, noting: "This is just a case of growth catching up with growth. Whether you are going to build businesses or homes you need good roads."

NDOT's plan calls for realigning and widening State Route 160 from four to six travel lanes from Las Vegas Boulevard to Industrial Road and widening the existing alignment from four to six lanes from Industrial to Rainbow.

The proposed improvements also include a new interchange at Interstate 15 that would include a flyover ramp from eastbound Blue Diamond Road to northbound I-15 and a grade separation at the Union Pacific Railroad to the southwest.

Blue Diamond Road also will be realigned from I-15 so that it meets Windmill Road at Las Vegas Boulevard, where Windmill currently dead-ends.

Kent Cooper, program development manager for NDOT, said no businesses or homes should have to be taken by eminent domain. He noted that the project even calls for State Route 160 to bend around the Silverton hotel-casino to least affect that business.

"We are excited about this because we will be building something that will be needed 10 years from now," he said, noting that the project is necessary to meet the expected increased demand for that artery.

It is projected that by next year, State Route 160 each day will carry 30,100 cars from I-15 to Industrial Road, with that number increasing to 67,400 by 2020. Also by next year an estimated 20,000 vehicles per day will travel State Route 160 between Las Vegas Boulevard and I-15, with that number increasing to 38,000 by 2020, transportation officials said.

The earliest projected start date for construction is the end of 2001, depending on approval of the Federal Highway Administration and funding, NDOT officials said.