Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Residents sound off about options for U.S. 95 growth

Todd Farlow has installed a second wall around his house at 19th Street and Stewart Avenue, as well as two sets of double-pane glass on his windows to keep out the noise from U.S. 95, about the length of a football field away.

If plans to create a double-decker freeway between the Spaghetti Bowl and Eastern Avenue go through, he expects those measures won't help much.

"When you have an elevated structure like that, it projects all the sounds of the highway down," he said. "That noise will go straight to those homes and those people won't be able to live there. It's just too loud."

Residents turned out Wednesday night at an open house at the Las Vegas Senior Center to get a look at the "double-decker" option, which would keep existing lanes in place and create express lanes above them.

State transportation officials are planning ahead, hoping to avoid future gridlock along the well-traveled route. The double-decker freeway provides one way to increase the number of cars that can get through, but it isn't the only answer.

Residents also got a look at a second alternative -- widening the highway from six to 10 lanes by adding additional express and local lanes between the Spaghetti Bowl and Eastern Avenue.

Whichever plan is chosen, the expansion of U.S. 95 could begin as early as 2010 if all goes smoothly, Scott Rawlins, project manager for the Department of Transportation said. A total cost of the project is unclear at this time, he said.

Rawlins said 50 percent of traffic along that stretch of highway consists of travelers wishing to simply drive straight through downtown, while the other half needs to get to side streets.

"With the double-decker, an elevated ramp will go over the top of the existing lanes, so those wanting to go straight through can do so and those wanting to go to the local side streets can be separated," Rawlins said.

While the double-decker option would alleviate traffic strains, the height of the added elevated ramps might seem unsightly and sound noisy to residents who live nearby, Rawlins said.

Farlow said he has spent hundreds of dollars soundproofing his house as it is. "But not everyone can afford that, you know," he said. "So what do they do?"

Dennis Lundberg, who lives at the intersection of U.S. 95 and Charleston Boulevard, said he was against the double-decker option for those very reasons.

"I'm concerned about the noise especially," he said "Right now there are no sound barriers. I guess they have to add sound barriers to the new ramps, but that's just not pleasant to look at."

If the double-decker option passes, sound walls up to 60 feet high would be put in place along the highway to alleviate the noise, Rawlins said. "Again though, some residents don't want to look at that," he said.

Joseph Walent of North Las Vegas, said he didn't mind the sight, as long as the sound stays at a minimum.

"It's a highway. They're meant to get you where you go, not be pretty," he said. "If they soundproof it, I don't see a problem."

The choice of widening the highway also brought mixed opinions from residents.

"With this option, they're just ruining the neighborhoods," Farlow said. "All these people in all these homes will be taken out to widen the highway. I'm not happy with this, either."

Doris Harris, of northwest Las Vegas, said she would be happy with any alternative to sitting in hours of traffic.

"Las Vegas is growing and our highway needs to grow with it," she said. "There are too many cars on the road, and some of them want to cruise on home from the mall and others need to get to work quick.

"It's understandable that if you live nearby you don't want more highway or more noise, but you live by the highway," she said. "It's just the way it is. We need to do something and do it quick to keep up."

Roger Patton, project manager for the Louis Berger Group, which is assisting NDOT with the project, said he has heard positive and negative reactions to the possible additions to U.S. 95.

"From what I got yesterday (Tuesday) at the first meeting, I heard both sides," he said. "There were some who didn't like the proposals because of concerns over noise. That's the main concern I've heard."

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