Heavy trucks on northwest valley project to be re-routed

By Paul Takahashi

Friday, Sept. 24, 2010 | 12:22 p.m.

Heavy trucks hauling dirt from a Regional Flood Control District project at Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs are being re-routed along Grand Teton Drive and Farm Road starting this week.

The adjustment is necessary for the northern valley project to be completed as quickly as possible without incurring additional costs if the trucks took longer, alternate routes, according to a press release.

The haul route will be along Racel Street, Tenaya Way, Buffalo Drive and Cimarron Road to Grand Teton and Farm. The trucks will dump dirt at a drop-off site along Decatur Boulevard.

This new route will be in place until about March 2011.

To ease the impact on neighborhoods along the new routes, the trucks will alternate between Grand Teton and Farm.

Trucks will take the Grand Teton route on Saturdays and Sundays due to safety concerns about nearby Arbor View High School, Anthony Saville Middle School and Howard Heckethorn Elementary School. Trucks will take the Farm route during two or three weekdays per week.

This part of the flood control project includes the construction of two environmental enhancement areas acting as flood control facilities. The flood control improvements will occur on Racel Street, from El Capitan Way to Cimarron Road; and on El Capitan, from Racel to Horse Drive. El Capitan, at Racel, will be widened, and 4.3 miles of trails will be built at Floyd Lamb Park.

The improvements will take about 18 months to complete.

The overall storm drainage improvement project is designed to help alleviate severe flash flooding that can occur during heavy rains. The entire project is slated for completion in December 2011.

Funding for the storm drainage project is provided by the Clark County Regional Flood Control District, the city of Las Vegas and the Bureau of Land Management through the sale of public lands as authorized by the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, which allows money from Nevada federal land sales to be used for state park and trail projects.