Closure of Summerlin Parkway is announced

Stephen Curran

Thursday, April 28, 2005 | 9:52 a.m.

Late-night drivers who were pleasantly surprised while heading toward Summerlin Parkway late Monday should find another route around the popular thoroughfare tonight, Las Vegas Public Works officials said Wednesday.

Workers are expected to close Summerlin Parkway between Durango Drive and Rampart Boulevard to westbound traffic at 9 p.m. tonight, routing westbound vehicles north on Durango and west on Vegas Drive before returning to Rampart. Drivers will be able to re-enter the highway at that point, public works officials said.

The department was initially expected to close the route Monday night to allow workers to pour concrete for a new bridge as part of the Durango Drive Improvement Project. But workers during the previous night changed the order of the work performed to save time on the next step, Terry Parker, the city's construction management coordinator, said.

That change forced a three-day postponement of the planned closure, but it is expected to save contractors' time in the long run because it will allow them to pour concrete against other concrete that is already dry, Parker said.

"At some time we would have had to close the westbound Summerlin Parkway," he said. "It's just a matter of when we do it. The overall change may save a couple days."

Th opening of the new parkway to the public is still set for late summer, city public works spokeswoman Debby Ackerman said.