Complaints on U.S. 95 widening heard

Birusk Tugan

Friday, June 23, 2000 | 10:24 a.m.

Concerned about devaluation of their property, some residents living between Cheyenne Avenue and Craig Road near U.S. 95 asked the Nevada Department of Transportation to lower and color the noise barriers that will surround the highway as it is widened.

Fewer than 40 people attended the public information meeting held Thursday night in the Molasky Middle School cafeteria.

"Frankly, I would prefer they buy my house rather than having an 18-foot-high wall next to it, but they won't buy it," said Fred Huber, who lives on Prospect Street.

The transportation agency invited residents to the meeting to discuss five types of noise barriers to mitigate noise and construction activity.

The meeting dealt with the second half of the widening project that will eventually expand the highway to six lanes to accommodate a "high-occupancy vehicle," or car-pooling lane. The 4-mile-long project -- one of five construction segments -- will cost approximately $35 million a mile.

Cheryl Stevens of the Scottsteele Point Association, a complex of 184 houses, said she doesn't object to the widening project "so long as they don't deface the property."

"But if they leave that sound wall brown, no one will be able to sell their property."

Stevens and other residents want the sound walls to be reduced to 12- to 14-feet-high and moved away from their property. Huber also asked for landscaping to be included between the highway wall and homes.

Robert McKenzie, public information officer for NDOT, said the agency will consider those recommendations.

The highway plan drew other opposition on Thursday.

The Sierra Club asked the Federal Highway Administration to expand environmental impact studies because new research links high traffic volume with childhood cancers and leukemia. The Sierra Club claims the project will disrupt rather than relieve traffic.

Project design manager David Potter of the Sverdrup consulting engineering firm said the Sierra Club's argument doesn't make sense to him.

"If you are talking about killing children, the widening will reduce it. If there is traffic congestion, there is pollution. If the traffic is moving along, there is less pollution."

Huber supported him.

"It's not realistic to say 'No, you can't widen that road.' It is inevitable that roads have to reflect the population growth," he said.

Cathy Razor, a public involvement consultant for the NDOT, said the project will reduce congestion and improve air quality and highway safety.

"People ask us 'When are you going to do it? When will it start?' Because it will give them relief," Razor said.

NDOT project manager Genichi Kanow said the five-part project will widen a total of nine miles of U.S. 95 between Craig Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard and cost $350 million by the time it's completed in 2006. The design of the first phase from the Rainbow Boulevard interchange to Cheyenne Avenue is almost finished and construction will start in October.

Kanow said the project will meet the needs of Las Vegas until 2020.

Written comments will by accepted until July 17. More information on the project is available on the Internet (www.nevadadot.com).