Rancho Drive detours are urged

Dan Kulin

Friday, Dec. 5, 2003 | 11:18 a.m.

Drivers who frequently use Rancho Drive near U.S. 95 will want to find another way to get around that area next month when work is expected to begin on a new storm drain system.

The project will temporarily close a highway off-ramp and several lanes on Rancho, state highway officials said.

The $5.8 million storm drain project is part of the $350 million U.S. 95 widening project that is adding travel lanes and reconfiguring some interchanges.

In 2004, $190 million will be spent on the project, which is expected to be done by the end of 2006.

In addition to temporary traffic problems, the project has prompted the state to force the sale of property along the route to make room for a wider highway.

On Thursday the state Transportation Department board approved the sales, also known as condemnations, for property along the north edge of the Meadows mall parking lot.

The widening project will push a planned on-ramp and retaining wall between 10 and 40 feet into the mall property, costing the mall about 200 parking spaces, project manager John Terry said. That property is expected to see construction beginning in the summer.

Meadows general manager Greg Sims said mall officials are working with the state to lessen the impact to the parking lots.

"We are still waiting for the state to show exactly what is going to be taken," he said. "Right now we don't have a clear number what that will be. We're still working with them to figure that out and the easiest and best solution."

Even if parking is taken, Sims said widening of the highway can only work in the mall's favor.

"Overall, the expansion of the highway is a big benefit to the mall -- the road needs to be widened," he said. "We look at it as a positive because shoppers will have much better access when it's done."

The storm drain project near and along part of Rancho Drive is expected to begin around Jan. 9 and last no more than 20 days, Transportation Department spokesman Bob McKenzie said.

Steve Stoney, 62, a construction consultant who lives in northwest Las Vegas, said the construction is going to create a traffic nightmare on Rancho.

"I normally travel Rancho going from the northwest, where I live, to downtown," Stoney said. "I'll just go someplace else. I'll experiment until I find a good route."

Terry said the new drain system will alleviate, though not solve, some of the flooding problems for property between Martin Luther King Boulevard and Rancho just north of the highway.

To install the drain system, the Rancho off-ramp from U.S. 95 north will be closed. Also, Rancho will be reduced to one lane of traffic in each direction.