Friday, Sept. 24, 2010 | 2:59 a.m.
Work on the roads at McCarran International Airport has changed the routes available for motorists who use the airport tunnel to bypass the airport.
The airport connector tunnel is a popular way to get from the Las Vegas Beltway to UNLV and the resort corridor, but a loophole in the airport’s road system will be closed Thursday night.
The road was designed to give motorists a clear choice upon exiting the tunnel: Stay to the left to go to the airport terminals, or stay to the right to get to Russell Road or Tropicana Avenue via Swenson Street.
But some motorists discovered that getting to Tropicana often required stopping at the traffic signal at Russell, while if they went left toward the airport, they could take a last-minute opening to get back to Swenson with traffic exiting the airport, skipping the Russell Road signal.
Crews were scheduled to install a barrier wall Thursday night to close the loophole. Motorists will still be able to use the tunnel to bypass the airport but will have to either stop at Russell Road or go all the way through the terminals to exit the airport.
The barrier is part of a larger $22.2 million road project to prepare the airport for the opening of Terminal 3 in 2012.
While the loophole may have been slightly faster for some motorists, it was in a dangerous weaving area where traffic coming into the airport has to cross traffic leaving the airport. The new barrier removes the weave to help traffic flow more smoothly and safely.
When the project started nearly a year ago, airport officials said they didn’t feel bad about changing the route for people who aren’t going to the airport.
“Many drivers who use the tunnel are probably unaware that these roadways were built by the Department of Aviation for the specific purpose of moving airport users more easily in and out of McCarran,” said Randall Walker, the director of the county aviation department, in a statement at the time.
The airport is largely funded by money collected from passengers through the airlines, not by local taxes, even though the county runs the facility.
However, the bypass will remain, and the Nevada Department of Transportation has plans to eventually improve the road south of the tunnel, connecting it to the beltway.
A detour north of the tunnel ended Monday, making the route more convenient for motorists who bypass the airport than it has been for much of the past year since construction began.
But one lane in the northbound tunnel will remain closed for several more weeks while crews continue their work on the roads.
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