Two governors celebrate I-15 widening project

Jace Radke

Friday, March 22, 2002 | 9:54 a.m.

Nevada has moved to ensure that Southern California tourists can avoid traffic jams while en route to Las Vegas.

A 26-mile stretch of Interstate 15 between Barstow and Victorville, Calif., is being widened, thanks in part to Nevada paying $20 million of the project's $140 million price tag.

"Fixing the road between Las Vegas and the state line doesn't do us any good if people get out to Barstow and, wham, they're stopped," Guinn said Thursday after a press conference to announce the project in Ontario, Calif. "Even though it's California's road, the traffic on it is really our issue because a lot of it comes from tourists."

The project will add a third lane in each direction; the southbound lane is scheduled to be completed in winter 2003, the northbound lane by winter 2004.

"This project will allow for safer and faster travel and keep the freeway free," Califonia Gov. Gray Davis said. "This will mean more Californians going to Nevada casinos and more Nevadans coming to our beaches."

Guinn called the cooperation between the two states historic, and said the money spent by Nevada will pay off in tourist dollars.

"This highway is a very important issue," Guinn said. "If someone travels to Las Vegas three times a year and he has to sit in eight hours of traffic, he may decide that next year he's only coming twice. That's a drop of 33 percent."

Along with the widening in California, construction continues on a third travel lane in each direction from Las Vegas to the state line. That stretch is expected to be completed in early 2003. By July more than 70 percent of I-15 between Las Vegas and Los Angeles is scheduled to be under construction.

"Both states know the importance of this highway," Guinn said. "Governor Davis has a lot of places that he can put $120 million in transportation funding, and he didn't have to put it here. We're happy to work with him in a project that benefits both states."