Gridlock to endure on highway connecting Los Angeles, Vegas

Wednesday, July 11, 2001 | 10:56 a.m.

Widening Interstate 15 and developing new highways between Las Vegas and Los Angeles won't alleviate traffic congestion for tourists and casino-bound gamblers, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's highway consultant says.

Tom Skancke, contracted by the LVCVA to monitor and lobby for improvements that would benefit Las Vegas, on Tuesday gave LVCVA board members news they didn't want to hear: No matter what improvements are made in the years ahead, highways are still going to be packed at times when tourists most want to drive to Las Vegas.

About one-third of the 35.8 million visitors who visited Las Vegas in 2000 came from Southern California and about 80 percent of those arrived by car.

Traffic on I-15, the main highway linking Las Vegas to Los Angeles, gets so heavy on some weekends that a trip that normally takes four hours takes 10 to 12.

Traffic most often bottlenecks between the California cities of San Bernardino and Barstow, where the highway narrows from eight lanes to four. The California Transportation Department has identified several locations along I-15 where adding a lane would make it easier for motorists to pass trucks. About $319.7 million has been budgeted for improvements.

Caltrans has budgeted for the widening of I-15 between Victorville and Barstow, with the $79.7 million southbound project due for completion in May 2003 and the $64.8 million northbound section to be finished by May 2005.

Skancke told the board Tuesday that another project under study by Caltrans -- called the "L.A. Connector" -- would link Palmdale and Victorville with a 45-mile, four-lane highway. A project study is expected to be completed next month and the project would be built in three phases at a total cost of $1.2 billion, which includes $300 million for right-of-way acquisition.

Caltrans sees the L.A. Connector as an alternative route to the north from the Los Angeles Basin. California transportation planners also like it because it would offer a new route between the Port of Long Beach to the Southern California Logistics Airport, two major cargo centers.

But for the tourist, the route offers an alternative that bypasses the congestion of San Bernardino and Riverside counties and the steep and sometimes treacherous Cajon Pass.

But Skancke said that all the improvements planned will have little effect on traffic congestion. The reason: Growth rates project the population of California's High Desert Region to nearly triple by 2020. California officials say 1.9 million people will live in the area in 20 years.

Skancke said I-15 gets bottled up every afternoon as workers return to their Victorville homes from their jobs in Los Angeles. That occurs at about the same time tourists hit the highway for Las Vegas for weekend trips.

Steve Greathouse, an executive with Mandalay Resort Group, said his properties have seen evidence that some tourists are avoiding the Friday-afternoon weekend crush by arriving in Las Vegas on Saturday morning and staying Saturday and Sunday, leaving for Los Angeles at 4 a.m. Monday.

Board members also asked about the status of a Los Angeles-Las Vegas train.

The most viable train proposal on the drawing board is Amtrak's plan for high-speed passenger service between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, but that isn't expected to be available for more than a year.

Liz O'Donoghue, a spokeswoman for Amtrak West, the business unit that operates Amtrak in seven Western states, won't even guess a starting date for train service anymore because of a series of delays that have plagued the project.

The most optimistic projection for an Amtrak startup is September 2002.

Amtrak is proposing the use of high-speed trains that use "tilt technology," manufactured by Renfe Talgo of America and already used by Amtrak in the Northwest. Amtrak plans to use the 300-passenger trains on the 340-mile route and haul gamblers to Las Vegas from Los Angeles daily.

Amtrak would use tracks administered by Union Pacific Railroad. To operate the high-speed trains, $28 million in track improvements are needed. Before those tracks can be improved, Union Pacific must get environmental clearances from the National Park Service since the tracks travel through the Mojave National Preserve, a 1.6 million-acre desert region south of the California-Nevada border.

Dennis Schramm, a spokesman for the Mojave National Preserve, said Union Pacific is in the midst of securing the environmental permits needed to proceed on track construction.

Two environmental evaluations are occurring concurrently. One, a biological assessment, was sent in May to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That agency has 135 days to complete its review.

Schramm said an environmental assessment being conducted by the National Park Service "will be on the street within a month." The public will get the opportunity to comment on the assessment. If there's no controversy and the public approves, the Park Service would issue a permit. But if questions are raised, Union Pacific could be forced to file a more comprehensive environmental impact statement that could take months to complete.

After all the environmental permits are approved, Union Pacific anticipates it will take 11 monthsto build about 20 miles of track parallel to existing tracks.

"I think what's important at this point," O'Donoghue said, "is that we're fully committed to running the train. As soon as construction is completed, we're going to run the train."