Council finds road update bumpy

Erin Neff

Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000 | 11:12 a.m.

Las Vegas City Council members asked for more communication with the Nevada Department of Transportation after learning Wednesday that several major road projects will take longer than anticipated.

The requests came during an update on transportation projects by city traffic engineer Charles Kajkowski and Regional Transportation Commission Manager Jacob Snow.

Kajkowski discussed a number of city projects and how they relate to plans by the NDOT for bigger roads like Summerlin Parkway, U.S. 95 and the beltway.

Kajkowski said estimates haven't kept up with growth. An anticipated 30,000 vehicles were to use Summerlin Parkway by now, when actually 175,000 travel it southbound alone each day, he said.

Plans for expanding the parkway are now behind schedule and years away, perhaps as far off as 2005.

"(The start in) 2004, 2005 scares me tremendously for the expansion of the Summerlin Parkway, which could use an extra lane in either direction today," Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald said.

Councilman Michael Mack said it took him 40 minutes last week to drive from Craig Road to the Rainbow curve on U.S. 95.

"Anything we can do to expedite it will help," Mack said.

Mayor Oscar Goodman asked whether the planned projects will be obsolete by the time they open.

Kajkowski said it is possible the city also will need to construct several super arterials, similar to the Desert Inn thoroughfare in the county.

Snow said the planned private sector monorail will help alleviate traffic from the Strip north to Fremont Street.

But he said the monorail must be extended quickly from Sahara Avenue to Fremont Street while maximizing ridership and revenue on the route from Tropicana Avenue to Sahara.

For the monorail to work, Snow said the city needs a new Downtown Transportation Center to handle the increase in buses to link the monorail to the overall mass transit system.

He also said the final leg of the monorail, from Fremont Street to Cashman Field, should be scrapped for now to cut an estimated $150 million from the cost.

The cost from Sahara to Fremont alone is $200 million.