Pueblo Boulevard to be extended

By Jeremy Twitchell

Wednesday, May 6, 2009 | 12:19 p.m.

A road that figures into major redevelopment plans the city of Henderson has along Boulder Highway is scheduled to be extended using construction funds from the Regional Transportation Commission.

Pueblo Boulevard is a two-lane road that runs south from Lake Mead Parkway to Concord Way, two blocks shy of Boulder Highway.

But with the city’s plans to spur redevelopment along Boulder Highway by creating a mixed-use corridor and construction under way on the 160-acre Heritage Park facility alongside a stretch of Pueblo, the road figures to see more traffic in coming years.

In a deal approved by the Henderson City Council last night, the RTC will pay for Pueblo to be extended about a quarter mile south to Boulder Highway and widened to four lanes from Boulder Highway to Newport Drive, where Heritage Park will be located.

Pueblo will curve to meet Boulder Highway at College Drive, the same way that Greenway Road and Palo Verde Drive meet at the next intersection to the north.

City Engineer Jonna Sansom said the main reason for the project is to handle the anticipated increase in traffic that Heritage Park will bring to the area.

“We just want to make sure we get all the connections and move traffic through the area smoothly,” she said.

The project is expected to cost about $1 million. Originally, the city had planned to have $5.9 million and was planning to widen Pueblo to four lanes from Boulder Highway to Burkholder Boulevard and make traffic improvements at that intersection.

Decreased tax revenues, however, required the RTC and Henderson to decrease the project’s budget and narrow its scope.