Officials seek public comment on east-side traffic problems

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.

Meeting

A second meeting to receive comments on east-valley traffic problems and solutions will be held tonight, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Paradise Community Center, 4775 McLeod Drive, Las Vegas.

Traffic congestion threatens to shut down rush-hour traffic on the east side of the Las Vegas Valley, transportation officials warned at a public meeting Tuesday.

The Nevada Department of Transportation is taking comments from people who might have a solution. Last year, the department dropped a proposal to extend the Las Vegas Beltway, also known as Interstate 215, around the north and east sides of the valley.

While bowing to public concerns that as many as 10,000 homes would have to be relocated, the department warned that traffic pressure will continue to grow. The focus has shifted to Interstate 515, commonly called U.S. 95.

Scott Rawlins, NDOT project manager for the I-515 Corridor Study, said his agency will collect comment over the next nine months and come out with some specific recommendations for environmental review. He said before it gets to that stage, more public hearings will be held to present to the public the options available.

"We have to identify what the shortfalls are and what opportunities there are to alleviate the shortfalls," Rawlins said. "We'll put out a slew of alternatives."

Failure to act is not much of an option, he said. Already, I-515 from the Spaghetti Bowl downtown to Lake Mead Drive in Henderson is thoroughly congested with traffic during rush hours. By 2025, not only will the highways be jammed full of vehicles, but there will be gridlock on virtually all the major arterial streets throughout the east side of the valley, Rawlins said.

The east side of the valley has not had the wholesale highway investment that other parts of the urban area have received. The beltway now stretches almost completely around the urban center on the south, west and north; U.S. 95 north of downtown is being expanded; Interstate 15 through the center of the urban area is in a near constant state of expansion and improvement.

But NDOT is addressing the issues on the east side, said Rudy Malfabon, NDOT deputy director for Southern Nevada. One project to begin in September is the $82 million "Henderson Spaghetti Bowl," which will extend the beltway to Henderson and connect it directly with U.S. 95/I-515.

Malfabon said more needs to be done. NDOT, the Southern Nevada Regional Transportation Commission and the municipal governments of Las Vegas, Clark County and Henderson will work closely to find solutions to the traffic problem, he said.

One option might include the widening of I-515, but Malfabon wants to be careful not to generate the political heat that came with the discussion of an eastern beltway.

"We don't want to displace a bunch of people," he said. That could mean significant upgrades to arterial streets or other strategies.

"We have to see how the money can be spent without having a lot of disruption," he said.

A couple of dozen homeowners and residents showed up at Tuesday night's public meeting. Some of them said they are very aware of the growing traffic volume on I-515 and the surface streets, but they are wary of what could come with new projects.

"There's a lot of traffic. I think they need to resolve it," said Samantha Blake, a medical assistant who lives just one house away from the highway, off Charleston Boulevard. "But they need to find a way to take the least amount of homes out."

Some of the other nearby residents said they see, hear and feel the growing traffic as it thunders on the highway. They asked for at least some sound-proof walls, similar to what some neighborhoods have gotten on other highways.

"Whatever they do, I could sure go for some sound barriers," said Mary Logan, a resident who has lived in her downtown neighborhood since 1949.