Dioxin findings not expected to delay interchange

Tuesday, April 25, 2000 | 10:52 a.m.

Although soils under Lake Mead Drive near a proposed freeway project may contain toxic chemical contamination, any investigation and cleanup is not expected to delay the start of a Henderson interchange, state officials said today.

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and landowner Levy Trust are investigating cancer-causing chemicals found on a parcel of land where the state wants to build a freeway exchange to connect U.S. 95 and the Las Vegas Beltway.

The Nevada Department of Transportation discovered PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, and dioxins in old burn pits on the Levy site at Lake Mead Drive and U.S. 95 in Henderson during February. Since the project is in its design phase, further engineering work was put on hold, NDOT public information officer Bob MacKenzie said.

The interchange construction is scheduled to begin in January 2001 with completion roughly a year later, MacKenzie said. Another section of the freeway expansion is due for completion at Stephanie Street by the end of this week.

State environmental and transportation officials discovered the contamination after finding 1940s aerial photographs showing smoke coming from the area and blackened pits, NDOT environmental engineer Kathi Brandmueller said. "There's some evidence in aerial photos that there could be more contamination, but we don't know," she said today.

The area of the state's concern is a 25-foot strip of land owned by NDOT between the contaminated Levy property and Lake Mead Drive.

By the end of the week Brandmueller said NDOT plans to submit a plan to test the soils under Lake Mead Drive. Even if the contamination has spread beneath the highway, it does not pose a public health threat because of the pavement.

While the Levy Trust owners have agreed to investigate and clean up their property, the state urged NDOT to expand its environmental investigation, Robert Kelso, state supervisor of the remediation branch, said today.