Soundwalls planned for U.S. 95 downtown

Sito Negron

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2004 | 9:03 a.m.

Another section of highway that passes through established neighborhoods near downtown Las Vegas will be walled off in an attempt to dampen the sound, following state approval Tuesday for up to $10 million towards a $19 million project on U.S. 95.

"This is nine years coming, and I'm so excited about it," said Las Vegas Councilman Gary Reese, who said he spent that long trying to get state funding for the sound walls.

The rest of the money is to come from the Regional Transportation Commission, said state Transportation Department officials.

Sound walls have become a larger issue in the past several years because the valley's rapid growth often places homes near highways or highways near existing homes.

The walls are expensive. Depending on the material and design, they can cost about $2 million per mile.

The "retrofit" along the portion of U.S. 95 between Las Vegas Boulevard North and East Charleston Boulevard is meant to address a situation that developed when the highway was built many years ago. The highway is largely elevated and cuts close to homes.

Those residents "have been very patient," said Ruedy Edgington, assistant director of engineering for the Transportation Department.

They'll have to wait a little while longer. Although the money has been approved, Edgington said that design would take six months at best and construction could take more than a year to complete.

Thelma Clark, who lives near where Pecos Road intersects the freeway and said she has fought for the sound walls for 15 years, said it better not take more than a year.

"I'll get after them," she said. "I don't think it will take that long."

The walls will be 10 to 12 feet high and made of vertical steel beams that support reusable pre-cast concrete panels.

Edgington said that to install the walls on bridges, the decks will have to be exposed, to allow workers to tie in the vertical steel.

"It gets complicated," he said.

The state recently completed work on a similar project on the two-mile northbound stretch of U.S. 95 from Flamingo to Desert Inn roads.

The sound walls come while the state is in the planning process for expanding U.S. 95 east of downtown.