St. Rose Parkway project unlikely to be altered, state, city say

Jeffrey Libby

Wednesday, April 11, 2001 | 10:59 a.m.

State transportation officials have agreed to re-evaluate sound studies along a 1,500-foot section of St. Rose Parkway in response to an outcry from Henderson residents living alongside the $60 million widening project.

But many residents, including some who will live just 60 feet from the roadway if it is expanded from two to eight lanes as proposed, are not asking for a sound wall.

They're asking for fewer lanes of traffic.

State and city officials, however, say they will not consider that request.

The project would widen a 6-mile stretch of state roadway from Interstate 215 at Pecos Road to Interstate 15 to meet expected traffic needs over the next 20 years. Construction is scheduled to begin by fall 2002.

Gerry Perry, who represents 166 homeowners in the 1,005-unit Southfork development, said the eight-lane roadway would function mainly as a shortcut for interstate commercial traffic.

"All eight lanes is going to do is bring commercial traffic right through our neighborhood. It's not going to help us who already live here get where we're going," Perry said.

Ron Hughes, who represents another 136 homeowners in the development, wants the Nevada Department of Transportation to consider building as few as four lanes.

But Scott Rawlins, project engineer for NDOT, said that scenario is highly unlikely given the 20-year projections for growth in the southern Las Vegas Valley.

State planners project that by 2024 more than 73,000 cars and trucks will travel the roadway daily, coming from as far east as Lake Las Vegas. About 12,000 cars now use the road daily.

"The master plans for all those open areas are going to attract traffic that necessitates the additional lanes," Rawlins said. "The eight lanes are based on land uses planned by Clark County and Henderson for the southern portion of the valley."

Henderson's plans have been on the books since at least the early 1990s, Henderson Councilman Andy Hafen said.

Part of those plans include annexing 6,200 acres of undeveloped federal land and building a half-dozen master-planned communities that would empty onto St. Rose Parkway.

"If we restricted the lanes we would have residents screaming that we need more capacity," Hafen said.

Hafen said the Southfork residents he has heard from have asked for sound walls.

"If the sound is taken care of, I don't think the number of lanes will bother anyone," Hafen said.

Rawlins said NDOT engineers over the next couple of weeks will check the accuracy of sound levels obtained by HDR Engineering, a consulting firm hired by the state. They will then contact city officials with results.

Several residents have asked why the projected noise level for their development ranged from 58 to 65 decibels while sound engineers were able to assign definitive noise levels for five other test areas. The 65-decibel reading also comes within 2 decibels of the federal cut-off point of 67 decibels that would allow federal money to be spent on sound walls.

Dan Goodin, transportation manager for HDR Engineering, called the 2-decibel gap a "barely perceptible" difference. He attributed the range in projected sound levels to the 14 areas tested within Southfork.

But even at 65 decibels, Hughes said, the constant buzz of traffic would make it difficult for Southfork residents to enjoy their back yards or get a decent night's sleep.

"That's like listening to a lawnmower 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Hughes said.

Though planners expect a posted speed limit of 45 mph, HDR used a speed of 55 mph in sound tests. And with 12 intersections planned along the 6-mile roadway, engineers say congestion could actually slow speeds and quiet traffic.

Goodin projected the cost of 20-foot sound walls bordering the neighborhood at $2.4 million. A 14-foot-high sound wall would cost about $1.4 million, Goodin said.

St. Rose Parkway, or State Route 146, is the portion of the former Lake Mead Drive that runs from I-215 to I-15.