Henderson road project hurtful, needed thing

Dan Kulin

Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2004 | 11:01 a.m.

Almost a year after work began on the $82.2 million extension of the Las Vegas Beltway in Henderson, most area residents and businesses are trying to work through and around the traffic disruption, albeit with varying degrees of success.

The construction project that has brought rows of orange and white barrels and concrete barriers to Lake Mead Parkway from Gibson Road to U.S. 95 has hurt the nearby businesses that depend upon being convenient for customers, and was blamed for the closure of at least one business.

Nevertheless, business people, residents and city leaders say that while the construction of the interchange is causing problems for many now, it is a necessary project that will ease traffic flow along this major east-west route in fast-growing Henderson when it opens in summer 2006.

Peggy Bowen counts herself among the worst hit by the construction of what some call the Henderson Spaghetti Bowl.

"We were doing well and then it hit like overnight, hard," Bowen, who owned the mail service business RAMmail in a shopping center near the intersection of Gibson Road and the extending beltway.

"We were doing $300 to $400 a day. On Saturday I did $2.84," Bowen said last week. "The first week of February we really started hitting bottom and have been declining since."

Bowen closed the store July 30.

"The construction killed everybody," she said.

But not all of Bowen's neighbors in the Champion Village Plaza are having so much trouble.

Joe Cisneros, the owner of West Coast Pizza, said the construction has been good and bad for business.

"It's been OK. Disturbing delivery a little bit, people are upset when we tell them it will be 45 minutes, but I get a lot of construction workers that eat here," he said.

Cisneros distributed fliers to construction workers when the road work began.

"What I couldn't prevent I had to work with," Cisneros said. "You have to take what you can get. You can't sit back and wait to figure it out."

And even with the construction under way, Ron Lanese moved his computer service company Always Alert into the shopping center about six weeks ago.

"We do not depend on foot traffic, this is mainly just a drop-off point" Lanese said, adding that almost all of his business involves his staff going to customers.

But whether their businesses were hurt or not, all seemed to agree on the importance of the highway construction project.

"I don't think they should have left it alone. It was a big bottleneck anyway," Bowen said. "And eventually it will bring a lot more people to Henderson."

Cisneros said: "This corner's going to get hot when it's done, this will be the last interchange before Arizona."

Bill Olson, a cosmetologist at Layers Salon, said that while walk-in business has evaporated, the project is needed.

"This area will be great once it's all finished. It's just getting through is the key," he said. "It's one of those things no one can do anything about."

Area residents had a similar take on the situation.

Stacee Powell, a semi-retired Mary Kay Cosmetics saleswoman who lives south of the construction area in Henderson, said that while the project has become "kind of a pain," residents should expect to be inconvenienced by such projects because of the strong growth here.

Chris Allen, who lives just north of the intersection of Gibson and the beltway said he has been using Warm Springs Road instead of the beltway to try to avoid the construction.

"You know it's there and you just avoid it," he said. "Plus when it's all said and done it's going to help us. I praise Nevada for thinking ahead. This will be done before we really need it."

Traffic in that general area has been on the rise for years.

According to state Department of Transportation figures, that part of Lake Mead Parkway, which will be turned into the beltway extension, had an average of 64,000 cars a day in 2003. In 2000 the same area averaged 46,500 vehicles a day. Traffic count figures for 2004 were not available.

Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson said that while the project is a hardship for some, the extension of the beltway to U.S. 95 had to be done because of increasing traffic in the area.

Ryan Adams, a public outreach consultant for the state Department of Transportation, had a similar reaction.

Adams also said that while they have put up signs telling drivers there are businesses just off the beltway there, there's not much more they can do.

The state has a public outreach office at Henderson City Hall to distribute information on the project. That office can be contacted at (702) 267-3228.

There are also cameras broadcasting on the Internet site at 215515project.com.

"Some businesses are doing fine, and some are really struggling," he said. "But as inconvenient as it is, it is necessary for growth in the valley."