Beltway segment ready to open

Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2000 | 10:43 a.m.

Members of the public will have a chance Wednesday to tell the Clark County Public Works Department what they would like to see in the northern part of the Las Vegas Beltway, a day before the agency opens the latest section, extending the roadway to Sahara Avenue.

The department will accept public comment on the design of a 5.2-mile stretch of the northern beltway from Simmons Street to Pecos Road 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the North Las Vegas Air Terminal, 2730 Airport Drive.

Roy Davis, Public Works senior civil engineer, said the northern beltway -- now in the design phase -- should cost about $13 million. Bids for construction should be accepted in February, and construction should start in April, he said.

Construction should take less than a year to complete, Davis said.

The design is broken into two parts -- Simmons Street to Fifth Street, and Fifth Street to Pecos Road, Davis said.

Population growth on the valley's north side makes the road work important, Davis said.

Meanwhile, commuters on the west side will be able to drive another stretch of beltway beginning Thursday, officials said. Public Works will open the stretch from Tropicana to Sahara avenues.

Political leaders, government officials and construction contractors will hold a ceremony Thursday morning to open the 4-mile, $35 million stretch. Patricia Cook, Public Works community information coordinator, said the road should be open to motorists Thursday afternoon.

Interchanges for this section of beltway will be at Tropicana, Flamingo Road, Town Center Drive and Sahara.

The beltway should be open to Charleston Boulevard by January, to the Summerlin Parkway by the end of February or early March and to Cheyenne Avenue by fall of next year.

Not everybody is a fan of the beltway. Jane Feldman, conservation committee co-chairwoman for the local Sierra Club chapter, has been a critic of highway building and expansion efforts.

Environmentalists, including Feldman, worry that the road-building spurs urban sprawl. Feldman said the biggest concern about beltway construction is that there is not a binding plan for development in the Las Vegas Valley, and that road projects such as the beltway spur development that may not have been fully considered.

"We don't have a plan, where to put people, jobs or roads," she said.