Frank Sinatra Drive officially opens

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Friday, April 30, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.

County officials today opened a new artery designed to ease congestion near the Strip.

Frank Sinatra Drive will route as many as 30,000 vehicles on a street sandwiched between Las Vegas Boulevard South and Interstate 15, Clark County officials said. The newly completed road begins at Russell Road and continues to Spring Mountain Road.

A special ceremony with Clark County Commissioners Myrna Williams, Rory Reid and Lynette Boggs McDonald was held today to officially unveil the street, which opened for traffic in June. Planning for the road began in 1990.

The road is expected to be used mostly by Strip employees and other residents. It cost Clark County taxpayers $17 million, with the Nevada Department of Transportation paying the additional $19.5 million.

But the cost was worth it, as it will keep drivers destined for the Strip from having to compete with the thousands of tourists every day, Bobby Shelton, spokesman for Clark County Public Works, said.

"We believe it will be used more by workers and locals along The Strip," Shelton said. "It was designed to give people more access to the resort corridor."