U.S. 95 widening to start earlier

Wednesday, May 10, 2000 | 9:51 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Work involved with widening U.S. 95 in Las Vegas will be speeded up because traffic congestion is increasing by the day, the state Transportation Board said Tuesday.

Widening work to be put on the fast track includes design and acquisition of rights of way.

About $30 million from next year's transportation budget will be advanced into this fiscal year so the project can be accelerated.

"We're going full blast into the project," said Kent Cooper, head of program development in the Transportation Department.

Cooper estimated construction could start on the first phase from Rainbow Boulevard to Craig Road in the final three months of this year.

Also on Tuesday the board voted to delay for several months environmental work on the Tropical Parkway and the Elkhorn overpasses on U.S. 95 and right-of-way acquisition at the Durango interchange.

Cooper said these projects were scheduled to receive money in September, but it probably won't be allocated until October, the first month of the fiscal year for the federal government.

The board also approved spending $870,000 for a new traffic light device that would make it easier for just one instead of two traffic officers to monitor intersections for cars running red lights.

They would be installed at 60 intersections in Las Vegas with high accidents rates. Fred Droes, chief safety engineer for the Transportation Department, said the devices will be the first of their kind to be installed in Nevada.

The devices are placed on the back of traffic lights, allowing officers behind the light to monitor the cars.

The board also agreed to improvements on U.S. 95 at the Charleston Interchange to relieve traffic congestion. It will spend $25,000 to re-stripe and add signals at the northbound off-ramp to ease congestion.

In other action: