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twitterNew I-15 lanes to make debut Friday
Expansion is part of project to widen freeway to 10 lanes
Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009 | 4:45 p.m.
Mary Martini, district I engineer for the Nevada Department of Transportation, discusses the 1-15 widening project at a press conference Wednesday. NDOT plans to open several lanes of I-15 to ease traffic.
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- Mary Martini, District I Engineer for the Nevada Department of Transportation, discusses the I-15 construction project.
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New I-15 lanes
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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.”
Discussion: 15 comments so far…
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I've always felt the mafia left the casino business to focus on something much more profitable - the road construction business. I've never seen a town that has had the same road torn up, repaired, and then start all over again a few months later. Seems like they've been working on I15 since 1983.
I guess no one at NDOT has every built a bridge where the footing are in a river.
NDOT= Never Done on Time...LOL
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How about a LAW THAT STOPS IDIOT TRUCK DRIVERS cloggging up the left lane, like every other state.
Nevada traffic is bad but if you lived in Los Angeles or San Diego , traffic problem here is nothing. I lived in both places and I know the traffic problems here are not even close compared to those two cities.
It's Obama's fault !
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what's a real treat is...there always seems to be 40 projects going on and they seem to never end.
how long have they been working on mlk? it's a disaster. and two hov lanes on I-15...that'll sure help alot.
it would be nice to have something done on pecos between desert inn and flamingo. road is cracking and all they did was slap tar in the cracks. must be one of the bumpiest rides in town. they did work on pecos between cheyenne and alexander but they didn't grade it. still about as bad as it was before but it does have shiny new blacktop
and don't you just love when traffic comes to a standstill as half the road is coned off? then you look around and there's not a soul working on it?
whoever is responsible(planning dept.?) have to be some of the worst in the country.
yeah...traffic is not nearly as bad a southern california but it's gradually getting there!
If you love I-15 now, wait until millions of people have to deal with Project NEON. Can you say nightmare? NDOT says the project may take 20 years to complete. And that's for a valley that planners project increase from 1.9 million to 3.3 million people in the next 20 years. Any quality of life for this town goes down the tubes.
unclegig - I lived in LA for decades. If I needed to travel 30 miles, I would have many different freeways to travel - not the case in LV though - The beltway has helped, but you go to the other side of the state to avoid I15. Terrible planning, they should have built a freeway around Rainbow years ago when it was a 1 lane road and there was nothing on the other side.
"...planners project increase from 1.9 million to 3.3 million people in the next 20 years."
Not only has growth stopped, but we've actually been losing population for the last year. We'll see that accelerate as folks realize there just aren't jobs here, like there used to be when the bubble growth feed more growth. I don't know where or when the exodus will stop and Valley population will find it's natural level. But we're definitely not headed for 3+ million. We're headed in the opposite direction.
How much of this traffic in these areas are cabs going to McCarran? How about doing something to reduce the airport traffic? Some kind of transit system from the areas being visited to the airport via the Thomas and Mack? NDOT's answer to the congestion problem will always be more roads. Duh.
I remember when I-15 was just a nice little two lane N/S highway. How nice it was back then. Now days its wider than runway # 1 at McCarran. Hey ! there's an idea! lets widen it a little more to incorporate the airport!!