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Members of the North Las Vegas City Council, RTC, and Jerry’s Nugget casino at Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for the North 5th Street improvement project.
Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010 | 9:24 p.m.
North Las Vegas celebrated the grand opening of the first portion of its North 5th Street roadway improvement project — the largest project of its kind in the city’s history.
The project, funded by the Regional Transportation Commission, cost $24 million to construct and $30 million for right-of-way acquisitions, officials said.
The first phase of improvements runs from Owens to Carey Avenues. Planning started for the project in 2002. Construction on the first phase began in 2008.
“My hair was colt black when we started this project,” said Councilman Robert Eliason, who sits on the RTC board. The audience laughed. “You can see what color it is now, but I still have it,” he said.
As recently as 2008, the now eight-lane road was one lane in each direction, said Qiong Liu, the city’s public works director. The new, wider road — which is meant to allow for “multi-modal” transportation, meaning bikes, pedestrians, buses and cars — will bring people through, not around, North Las Vegas, she said.
The eight lanes include six auto lanes, two dedicated transit lanes — leaving the area open to RTC rapid transit lines — and 10-foot-wide trails separated by a 10-foot-wide landscape buffer on both sides of the road.
The ribbon-cutting also unveiled the completion of a $1.2 million façade and landscape improvement at Jerry’s Nugget Casino, 1821 Las Vegas Blvd. North, where Thursday’s event was held.
Before the ribbon-cutting ceremony, city and RTC dignitaries doted on the project.
“We’re happy to be where we are in this process,” said Mayor Shari Buck, noting there is still much work left to be done in North Las Vegas. “It’s a great entry point for our city.”
The project will connect downtown North Las Vegas with newer parts of the city, Buck said, fostering a better business environment throughout.
“We want people to know they’re coming into a city that’s well taken care of,” she said.
Councilman Richard Cherchio said he hoped the project would bring people back to downtown North Las Vegas, spurring revitalization in the area.
“This will contribute to making downtown the center of town again,” he said. “It always was before.”
The North 5th Street improvement project is a major aspect of the city’s downtown master plan. The master plan envisions a downtown North Las Vegas full of landscaped boulevards, pedestrian-friendly shopping centers and mixed-use housing developments.
Today, the downtown area has little definition and few destination points. That’s something officials hope will change during the next ten to 15 years, evidenced by a new City Hall and the road improvement project.
The struggling economy slowed the project, Liu said, but the RTC and the city still completed the first phase about $800,000 under budget and slightly ahead of schedule.
Eliason said he was most excited about the project’s regional implications. By connecting the city from north to south, and by connecting older parts of the city with newer developments, North Las Vegas will have the opportunity to develop its community, he said.
Two more phases are left for the project.
The next is expected to begin in early 2011 and will cost $35 million. The other is expected to begin in late 2012 and cost about $30 million. When complete, the improvements will run from Cheyenne Avenue to Owens Avenue and will include bridges over Losee Road and Interstate 15.
By 2030, officials said, the project will serve about 100,000 vehicles each day.
Please tell me this is a joke. North Las Vegas is laying off police, firefighters, and all kinds of other city employees and they waste money on a ROAD? This makes me sick. To say this will revitalize the city is a sick joke. Who wants to go into Northtown, let alone spend money there. Spend your money on better things... Like ways to protect your citizens!
Until there is a sense of safety in North Las Vegas, most people will continue to avoid the place. Is there a compelling reason to Ever want to go to downtown North Las Vegas? I think money would be better spent on more Police Officers and requiring officers that work in NLV to live there.
Notice how with more gun laws than the rest of the state, NLV has more shootings.
First change the name. Didn't Foster City change its name to "Redwood Shores" in the Bay Area?
Pleasant Desert? "Obama City" Reidville?
Second, more 1/2 acre plus zoning for homes.
Raise taxes on liqour stores.
One thing the RTC is good at is spending money. Gobs & gobs of it. What they are not good at is synchronizing the traffic signals. The RTC is one of the most dysfunctional bureacracies we taxpayers fund. It's populated with inept, inefficiant, unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats who, if they were employees of privates enterprises, would be wearing out their shoe leather looking for honest work. Time to clean house at the RTC and it should start at the top. Jacob Snow must go!
Lipstick on a pig isn't strong enough! The City of NLV has been inept at spending money and will probably file BK before the monstrosity City Hall is finished.
I'm tripping out on the sign that says "Jerry's Nugget".. What a choice name for a casino. LMFAO!
I guess it'll make that blighted area a little nicer for those who live & work there, but it isn't going to revitalize diddly (other than the pocketbooks of the developers & pols who're pushing it, at taxpayer expense). I think we could've spent that $54m much smarter.
It's great to see the city of NLV get this project done. The area was in need of improvement and it will be a excellent gateway for those in the northern parts of the city into downtown. And yes, people in the northern part do enjoy going into downtown NLV for shopping and services. I'm looking forward to the next 2 phases and hopefully they will continue to improve north 5th all the way up to the 215. Good job RTC.
This could become the first 9am to 5 pm shopping area in the country. There's no way this will work, because it's all about the existing population, mainly comprised of newly arrived immigrants and other minorities. How many 99 Cent stores can you build in one area? Don't forget your CCW after 5pm, folks.