Worth the wait

Lisa Snedeker

Tuesday, June 22, 1999 | 11:29 a.m.

Drivers who use Eastern Avenue south of Lake Mead Drive face a summer of traffic tie-ups while the heavily traveled road is widened from two to six lanes.

Residents in the area, however, say delays now are well worth the wait, since it means the widening project is expected to be complete by October, rather than a year from now as was originally planned.

The initiator behind the street improvements is Del Webb Corp., which is building its Anthem master-planned community near Eastern south of Lake Mead.

Eastern Avenue is the main entrance to the community, which in 12 years is expected to have 13,000 homes, five golf courses, two country clubs, a community park, library, amphitheater and fire station.

On that part of Eastern, the road's two lanes are often congested by construction traffic traveling to the Anthem sites as well as other housing and commercial developments at the intersection of Horizon Ridge Parkway.

So Del Webb moved up the widening a year.

But because Del Webb officials did not want to see Eastern full of sawtooths -- roads that go wider then narrower then wider again -- they also approached the other property owners along that stretch of Eastern and asked them to participate in the road improvements. Del Webb will foot the bill for the remainder of the improvements.

Landowners are not required to put in off-site improvements, such as streets or curbs, gutters and sidewalks, until something is built on the property.

"We told them we were going to let a contract and widen the road to three lanes in each direction," Scott Higginson, vice president of government affairs for Del Webb, said. "We said, 'If you want to participate, you have to pay your share of the contract.' "

Because the contract is for a long stretch of roadway, the cost is substantially less than if the property owners improved the road in short sections. A majority -- about 80 percent -- agreed to full improvements, which will include pavement and gutters. On the remainder of the properties, the road will be widened in front of the property, without curbs and gutters.

The total cost of Eastern's widening and improvements is about $2 million, Higginson said.

Del Webb's move was a pleasant surprise for resident Bill Moss, informal spokesman for the neighborhoods south of Lake Mead.

"When our meetings originally started out with the city, they said it would be at least a year before it (the project) was completed," said Moss, who lives in Concordia Classics, near the intersection of Eastern and Green Valley Parkway.

And while there's no doubt in his mind why Del Webb moved up the project -- a nicer entrance is better for a development -- the self-serving motive isn't important to Moss. "It is good for us."

Henderson City Manager Phil Speight credits Del Webb for taking the initiative to widen and improve Eastern, adding that property owners are responsible to improve streets.

"It's going to be on their dime, and moving up that schedule was something they wanted to do. I know they have done a lot of coordinating," he said. "It's going to make it a whole lot easier to traverse that area."

What hasn't been addressed is the volume of construction traffic using the congested road, Moss said.

Higginson said the company has responded to residents' concerns by encouraging business traffic to use the construction entrance, west of the Henderson Executive Airport.

Del Webb's impact on the construction traffic on Eastern is difficult to determine, Speight said, because other developments are also being built in the area, including the master-planned communities of Seven Hills and Sunridge.

During the most recent City Council meeting, residents again voiced their concerns about the construction traffic. In response City Attorney Shauna Hughes said she would explore the possibility of changing some city ordinances, including a noise ordinance, in an attempt to reduce some traffic in neighborhoods.

City officials, Speight said, "have a tough time stopping (construction trucks) when they are working on private property and traversing public streets." He added that when residents move into an area surrounded by construction, they have to expect some construction traffic.

Another project that may alleviate the delays on Eastern is the opening of the next phase of Interstate 215 -- or the Las Vegas Beltway -- between Pecos Road and Green Valley Parkway. The opening is scheduled for July 2, Speight said.

At the same time, plans call for closing the stretch of Lake Mead Drive between Pecos and Green Valley Parkway. That means commuters will be forced off Lake Mead onto Pecos or Green Valley Parkway to the beltway for east-west travel.

Plans call for the remainder of the beltway east to U.S. 95 be open to drivers by the end of the year.