Latest beltway section opens today

Thursday, Dec. 23, 2004 | 8:54 a.m.

A 2.8-mile stretch of highway that is expected to make getting around the southwest area of the valley a little easier was set to open at 11 a.m. today.

The roadway, from Decatur Boulevard to Buffalo Drive, is the latest piece of the yet-unfinished Las Vegas Beltway.

Construction on the next two pieces of Interstate 215, which will continue from Buffalo Drive to West Sunset Road and from Sunset to Hualapai Way, is expected to begin in February and should be finished by the end of the 2006, Bobby Shelton, a spokesman for the Clark County Department of Public Works, told the Sun earlier this week.

The Public Works Department spearheaded the $25.7 million roadway that will add to the roughly 6.5 miles of existing interstate on the highway's southern side between Decatur Boulevard and Gibson Road in Henderson. When the project is complete, in about nine years, it will form a 53-mile half-circle around the western part of the valley and pass U.S. 95 before connecting with Interstate 15 north of Nellis Air Force Base, planners said.

An estimated 86,000 drivers travel that stretch of road, previously one of many stop-and-go sections of the beltway, each day, engineers from the Regional Transportation Commission have estimated.

The entire beltway, known as I-215 in its completed parts, has been the site of 11 fatal crashes this year, according to the Nevada Highway Patrol.