Northwest leg of LV Beltway to aid development boom

Thursday, May 10, 2001 | 10:11 a.m.

For the last couple of years, Clark County residents on the south and west sides of the Las Vegas Valley have gotten a new road to carry them around the urban core.

Soon people living and working on the north side of the valley will get to hop on the Las Vegas Beltway to move around, at least from U.S. 95 in the northwest to Interstate 15 in the northeast.

The work is helping to push a development boom throughout the north part of the valley, affecting Clark County and Las Vegas land near U.S. 95 and land throughout the northern edge of North Las Vegas.

That pattern repeats the push the beltway, Interstate 215, gave to communities on the south and west sides of the valley.

According to Bobby Shelton, Clark County Public Works spokesman, residents of the valley's northside communities should be able to drive from El Capitan Way to Simmons Street by the end of February.

The county is building the roadway in two segments, a $22.5 million leg from El Capitan to Jones Boulevard and a $13 million leg from Jones to Simmons. Although crews are now digging out the roadway, Public Works will start construction with a ceremonial ground breaking May 18.

A planned segment from Simmons to Pecos Road is now out to bid, Shelton said. The final northern segment from Pecos to I-15 is also out to bid.

But construction on the entire stretch should start in three to four months he said. Completion is tentatively pegged at the end of 2002 or early 2003.

Two more pieces are needed to connect the dots, Shelton said -- Cheyenne Avenue to Lone Mountain Road and then Lone Mountain to El Capitan.

"Right now we are in design," he said. "We hope to begin construction by the end of the year."

That would put Public Works on a timeline to complete the entire 53-mile beltway "initial facility" by early 2004. The actual road is a mix of different speeds and road widths, a plan developed in the early 1990s to ensure as much of the road could be built as quickly as possible.

Building a full six-lane highway three-quarters of the way around the valley would have cost hundreds of millions more than the county had, slowing down construction by decades.

With the plan used for construction, the roadway will cost about $820 million. Shelton said the county will need about $700 million more to upgrade "to the ultimate facility."