A road work ahead sign is seen heading east on Horizon Ridge Parkway Wed. July 5, 2023. The City of Henderson will be making improvements to the long stretch of road and some surrounding intersections and streets soon.
Tuesday, July 11, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Clark County infrastructure
A $19.6 million road project slated to begin next month will reconfigure a portion of a main artery in the western reaches of Henderson and will include enhanced crosswalks, lighting and disability ramps.
The city of Henderson project will take place on a nearly 4-mile stretch of Horizon Ridge Parkway, from east of Gibson Road to Paradise Hills Drive. A single-lane roundabout to be installed at the intersection of Paradise Hills Drive and Horizon Ridge Parkway will be the most significant and challenging change included in the project. The entire project is estimated to take a year to complete.
Steven Conner, Henderson’s chief of public works inspections, said exact timelines for the work and plans for how the roundabout will be constructed have not yet been pinned down by the project contractor, Las Vegas Paving.
Last year, the city added roundabouts to multiple locations on nearby Greenway Road, he said. Often the contractors have built the outside of the roundabouts first to create areas of traffic to flow.
Studies have shown that roundabouts are safer for vehicles and pedestrians, Conner said.
“There is less points for possible crashes,” he said. “There is less points where cars can cross each other. If that accident does occur, it is more of a side swipe than a T-bone or head-on.”
Pedestrians also only have one direction of traffic to look for when crossing at a roundabout, Conner added.
Motorists will see the roadway reduced to one lane during certain parts of the project, he said. This includes the removal of the current asphalt.
“They need to go down to one lane for safety and the quality of the job,” Conner said. He said contracts also take longer if asphalt is removed one lane at a time.
Conner said he expected the project to start with the repaving of Horizon Ridge from Las Palmas Entrada Avenue to Ray Boulevard.
The project also will include rapid flashing pedestrian signage at Paradise Hills Drive at Skyline Road on the west side of Mannion Middle School; underground storm drain facilities will be installed from Paradise Hills north to Mission Drive; new energy-efficient LED light fixtures will replace existing streetlights; sidewalk ramps are slated to be updated to current Americans with Disability Act standards; and 17,200 lineal feet of new sidewalk will provide accessibility and enhance routes to school.
A majority of the project is funded by the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada Fuel Revenue Indexing.
Average daily traffic on the stretch of Horizon Ridge Parkway from Gibson Road to Horizon Drive was 14,300 vehicles in 2022, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation. From Horizon Drive to Paradise Hills Drive, the average daily traffic on Horizon Ridge Parkway was 15,100 vehicles, NDOT reported.
