New I-15 lanes to make debut Friday

By Erin Dostal

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009 | 4:45 p.m.

The Nevada Department of Transportation will soon be opening lanes on Interstate 15 to ease traffic congestion.

There are now four lanes open on southbound I-15 and three lanes open on northbound I-15 in the area south of the Spring Mountain Road interchange.

Starting Friday, northbound traffic on I-15 south of Spring Mountain Road will be restored to four open lanes – three “general purpose” and one express lane for through traffic. All five lanes north of Spring Mountain Road will be open.

In November, southbound traffic on I-15 south of Flamingo Road will have three “general purpose” lanes and two express lanes. North of Flamingo Road, four lanes will be open.

Signage on the I-15 project should be finished in November.

The project, which will widen a 5.72-mile portion of I-15 from eight to 10 lanes, began Sept. 15, 2008.

The project is expected to be finished in March or April next year, although it could take longer, said Mary Martini, District I engineer for NDOT.

“We’ve addressed most of the issues we’ve come across thus far,” she said. “Hopefully, we don’t come across something else that slows us down more.”

Those issues include the discovery of ground water near the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad bridge between Spring Mountain and Flamingo roads. Crews discovered the water while digging during the bridge project.

“Wherever you’re underground, you’ll run into water,” Martini said. “We knew in general that it would probably be there.”

The construction of the UPRR bridge is also being delayed by the existing railroad line. Trains come by about four times each day and construction workers must wait for them to pass.

The bridge will be the last part of the project to be completed, Martini said.

Early cost estimates for this portion of the project were about $21.5 million, with most of the funds being diverted from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority room tax. Anything over that, NDOT will have to cover, Martini said.

“We will overrun the project” costs, Martini said. “We don’t know how much right now.”