County joins state in endorsing proposed Boulder City bypass

Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2002 | 8:57 a.m.

A proposed highway bypass around Boulder City received an endorsement Tuesday from the Clark County Commission.

The commissioners voted 5-0 to endorse the Nevada Department of Transportation's "preferred alternative" to deal with increased traffic congestion on U.S. 93 through the city. The option would be to build a 12-mile loop south of the city that would begin about a mile west of Hoover Dam and end east of Railroad Pass.

NDOT Director Tom Stevens told the commissioners that the $345 million option is necessary to handle the heavy volume of traffic between Las Vegas and Phoenix. U.S. 93 now goes directly through the heart of Boulder City.

"We have a great deal of traffic on city streets and it's a safety hazard," Stevens said.

Two other alternatives, both of which would cost about $220 million, are also being considered as NDOT prepares a final environmental assessment of a new roadway. Stevens said both of those alternatives would still put heavy traffic through Boulder City, on improved city streets or a new highway through the town.

But a consensus supports the bypass alternative, he said.

Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, whose district includes Boulder City, said city residents have lined up behind the bypass.

State and county backing of the proposal does not mean it will happen overnight, Woodbury said.

"Of course it will be competing with a lot of other projects for funding, federal and state funding," he said.

Stevens said funding and design issues make setting a timeline for the project difficult. He said the environmental impact statement needed for the project should be finished this fall.

The Federal Highway Administration, which must sign off on the bypass project before federal funding can come in, should issue a "record of decision" next spring, he said.

Construction could start in three to four years, and the bypass could be open for traffic in six to eight years, NDOT's Scott Rawlins said.