Improvements along I-15 seen

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2003 | 8:45 a.m.

In an effort to better connect commuters coming from their suburban homes to the freeways and downtown Las Vegas, state, city and Clark County traffic officials have unveiled a massive highway improvement project.

"Everybody is working together," Bob McKenzie, spokesman for the Nevada Department of Transportation, said Tuesday night. The entities and agencies are coordinating plans for a massive overhaul of the downtown transportation corridor.

The idea is to move 250,000 vehicles traveling each day along Interstate 15 between Sahara Avenue and the Spaghetti Bowl, where I-15 and U.S. 95 connect, more efficiently and quickly.

"That is the busiest stretch of highway in the state of Nevada," Rand Pollard, NDOT project manager, said.

The public got its first look Tuesday night at the scope of the project and the areas that could be affected by the undertaking, dubbed Project Neon, that could cost well over $100 million.

The cost will depend on what type of bridges, connectors and roadways are built, Pollard said.

Construction is not expected to start until mid-2006 or later. It would last at least two years.

The four-part project covers an area bounded roughly by Sahara Avenue on the south, Alta Drive on the north, Martin Luther King Boulevard on the west and the County Government Center on the east.

Posters in the cafeteria of the Government Center on Tuesday night outlined the plan:

Residents and commuters were concerned about construction delays on I-15 and more traffic on residential streets.

"I'm worried about more traffic and more construction," said Deborah Roundy, who owns a half-acre of land at Oakey and Woodside Avenue.

"It's almost impossible to get in and out of our land from 3:30 p.m. until 7 p.m. every day."