I-15 widening in hands of residents, businesses

Tuesday, May 25, 2004 | 10:53 a.m.

Residents and businesses that could be affected by a Las Vegas highway-widening project will have one more opportunity to give their thoughts to the state and the roadway builders.

The Nevada Department of Transportation is holding a public meeting Wednesday that will once again cover the impact of Project Neon, the agency's effort to improve Interstate 15 from Sahara Avenue to the Spaghetti Bowl. The construction effort could start in two years and could go on for years as the phases of work progress.

Dozens of residential properties and businesses in the busy area west of downtown would ultimately be affected by the design decisions the transportation department plans on making within the coming weeks.

The project echoes the larger and ongoing effort to widen U.S. 95 from the Spaghetti Bowl to Craig Road, a multi-stage, $870 million project that is displacing hundreds of homes, apartments and businesses. Once bitterly resisted by residents along the expansion route, a federal judge threw out an environmental lawsuit in March. That move allowed expansion work on the highway at Martin Luther King Boulevard to go forward.

Kim Nokes, an engineer with Parsons, a firm working on the design of Project Neon, said four alternatives to widening I-15, three alternatives for connecting Martin Luther King Boulevard to Industrial Road, and two possibilities for reworking Oakey Boulevard and Wyoming Avenue remain on the table.

The construction effort would also include redoing the Charleston Boulevard interchange at I-15. Project managers have previously pegged the cost at up to $270 million, although Nokes said the final tally, depending on the design, could be higher.

The meeting Wednesday evening at the Clark County Government Center may be the last public forum for people to comment on the designs.

"From the input we get there, we will narrow down the alternatives sometime in July," Nokes said.

"There's going to be residential areas that are impacted by the project and also some businesses," he said, although the department also keeps a "no-build" option on the table.

"The majority of alternatives all impact the same corridor," he said, a quarter-mile-wide strip on the west side of the freeway. Nokes said 30 to 50 residential properties, including apartment complexes, could be affected, depending on the final design.

The transportation department has already held a series of public meetings on Project Neon. Jennifer Norrid, a resident on the west side of the freeway, said she attended a private meeting with the agency's planners last week.

She is concerned that the project right-of-way will affect her neighborhood.

"Some houses we know are certainly going to be right in the zone," Norrid said. "Everybody's braced for impact. We're just still concerned about how they're going to do it."

Charlie Kajkowski, Las Vegas city engineer and deputy director of public works, said his department has worked closely with NDOT on the project because it would mean improved access to the redevelopment area downtown.

The project "would provide good access to the downtown area," he said. "What is being looked at and proposed would be an enhancement."

Kajkowski said the impact is important, but the potential benefits probably outweigh the negatives.

"We're always concerned about the disruption to business or the taking of a business or residence," he said. "It certainly is considered in selecting an alternative.

"But decisions were made a long time ago on the configuration of the facilities we have today," Kajkowski said. "If we want to make improvements to those facilities, the need for extra right-of-way is inevitable."

"There's a neighborhood perspective and a regional perspective," he said. "In general the vast majority of people feel the improvements are needed."