Projects snarl two major thoroughfares

Jace Radke

Friday, Jan. 26, 2001 | 11:37 a.m.

Motorists trying to get from one side of the Las Vegas Valley to the other are finding that construction on Charleston Boulevard and Sahara Avenue is making for a slow commute.

A flood control project on Charleston that will eventually encompass the roadway from Grand Central Parkway to Shadow Land and the Interstate 15 widening project at Sahara have combined to snarl traffic on two of the city's busiest east-west thoroughfares.

The Charleston construction is part of a $35 million Regional Flood Control District project that will alleviate flooding in such infamous spots as the Charleston Underpass. Construction began in April and should be completed by summer 2002, with the Charleston portion of the project expected to be finished in April or May.

Cindy Fisk has been watching the construction from the windows of the Texaco she clerks at on the corner of Charleston and Martin Luther King Boulevard.

"The traffic is really bad, and at five o'clock it's a mess down here," Fisk said. "I do know that they are working hard to get this done, because they are out there at all hours. The workers on the night shift come over to get coffee."

American Medical Response's main office sits in the middle of the traffic tie-up, 1200 S. Martin Luther King, creating headaches for paramedics and employees of the company as they try make their way to and from the office.

"Our drivers have had to get very inventive with alternative routes around the construction and traffic," said Joe Franzini, who runs AMR's non-emergency MediCar service.

AMR's emergency responders aren't slowed down by the construction, because most of the company's ambulances are stationed at satellite locations across the valley, but that doesn't help staffers at the main office, who have to use a myriad of detours to get to work.

Charleston's westbound traffic will be detoured north on Grand Central Parkway to Alta Drive through mid-February as the construction makes its way west on Charleston. When work is completed at the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Charleston, westbound traffic will be detoured along Martin Luther King to Alta as work is started on the roadway to Shadow Lane.

Traffic delays can be expected on both east and westbound Charleston until the portion up to Shadow Lane is completed in April or May, but the situation will improve for AMR employees in mid-February when all of Charleston's eastbound traffic lanes are reopened under the I-15 overpass.

"It's been a headache, mainly because it's making it tough to get to work," AMR Clinical Education Manager Derek Cox said. "We had a meeting this morning, and two people didn't make it because of the traffic."

On-and off-ramps to I-15 from Charleston remain open, with the exception of the ramp to southbound I-15 from Martin Luther King. Debbie Hauth, city of Las Vegas Public Works spokeswoman, suggests Sahara Avenue as an alternative southbound freeway access point.

The southbound I-15 on-ramp at Sahara remains open, but getting to it requires making it through traffic tie-ups caused by a project to reconstruct the existing interchange at Sahara and I-15. The $33.6 million project will also widen northbound I-15 from three to four lanes between Sahara and Charleston, and is slated for completion in Spring 2002.

The project also calls for the widening of Sahara from eight to 12 lanes, and the widening and reconstructing of existing Sahara ramps, said Bob McKenzie, spokesman for the Nevada Department of Transportation. All of the Sahara ramps to and from I-15 are open.

Alternate routes include Alta Drive, Oakey Boulevard and Desert Inn Road.