Board approves funds for I-15, U.S. 95 widening

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 1999 | 9:58 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nearly $400 million will be spent in Clark County in road building and maintenance projects in the next fiscal year starting Oct. 1, with $122.9 million going for widening of Interstate 15 and $73 million to widen U.S. 95 in Las Vegas.

The state Transportation Board Tuesday approved a construction budget estimated at $600 million, with $394 million allocated to Clark County, $118 to Washoe County and the rest divided among the remaining 15 counties.

Kent Cooper, chief of the program development division in the state Transportation Department, said the $600 million is made up of federal, state and local tax dollars. He estimated that about 75 percent of the money for new construction, such as adding lanes or interchanges, will go to Clark County, 15 percent to Washoe County and that the rest will be split among the rest of the state's counties.

But he said 64 percent of the maintenance and road preservation funds will be spent in rural Nevada and 18 percent each in Clark and Washoe counties. He said most of the state roadways are outside the two metropolitan areas and that pavement is older than the newly completed projects in Southern Nevada.

Transportation Director Tom Stephens said widening of I-15 from the California border into Las Vegas was essential to reduce weekend traffic congestion and enhance safety. There is an average of 15 highway deaths a year on the busy roadway.

The biggest single project calls for spending $65 million to widen I-15 southbound lanes from the state line to 21 miles north. There is also $27.2 million programmed for a southbound truck lane plus ramp improvements at Jean and Primm.

The budget includes $104.8 million for projects on U.S. 95 in northwest Las Vegas with the biggest single job $38 million for widening U.S. 95 from six to 10 lanes from I-15 to Rainbow Boulevard. Another $35 million will be spent to acquire right of way for widening the highway.

Stephens said U.S. 95 between downtown Las Vegas and the northwest is the most congested freeway in the state.

Another major project in Southern Nevada is the I-15-Sahara Avenue interchange and adding another northbound lane between Sahara and Charleston Boulevard. Cooper said the added lane should alleviate some of the traffic congestion in the area and there will be expansions of the off-ramps on the interchange.

Other big jobs planned for Southern Nevada include $21.5 million for the resort corridor access road, also called Frank Sinatra Boulevard and $14 million for design and right-of-way purchase for the southern portion of the Las Vegas Beltway from Stephanie Street to U.S. 95 in Henderson.

Although these projects are planned to be started in the next 12 months, it will take several years to complete most of them.

The board voted to give the Transportation Department the authority to start condemnation proceedings against six property owners to acquire rights of way for reconstruction of a portion of the I-15-Sahara interchange as part of the widening of the freeway from Sahara to Charleston. Negotiations are continuing, but if there is no agreement, the department wants to go to court.