Interstate 11 project nearing construction
Boulder City residents soon will see construction around the Eldorado Mountains as the Interstate 11 project inches closer to groundbreaking.
Representatives from the Nevada Department of Transportation, Regional Transportation Commission and Las Vegas Paving laid out a plan discussing their joint efforts to get the Boulder City bypass moving during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Fencing is scheduled to be laid out around the construction site by April 20, and tortoises will be cleared out for preservation purposes. According to Chad Anson of the CA Group, a transportation engineering firm based in Las Vegas that will lead the design for Las Vegas Paving, their goal is to expedite the process and begin fencing by April 1.
Blasting around the Eldorado Ridge, Anson said, will begin in May or June and will take about a year to complete.
The completed Boulder City bypass project will be a four-lane interstate with interchanges at U.S. Highways 95 and 93. There also will be 10 bridge structures, four wildlife undercrossings, one wildlife overcrossing, an off-highway vehicle crossing, and a southbound scenic parking area that overlooks Lake Mead as part of the project’s second phase managed by the RTC.
The 2.5-mile first phase will be managed by NDOT and constructed by Fisher Sand &Gravel.
To address residents’ concerns about naturally occurring asbestos, all workers and work areas will be heavily monitored for dust. Tetra Tech will be doing the air monitoring for both phases, and the levels of naturally occurring asbestos will be sampled daily.
Anson said Las Vegas Paving also will be using commercial-sized misters to keep large amounts of areas wet during construction.
“We want to address that head on and make sure our NOA management plan is specifically tailored toward this project,” he said. “We’re doing our best with known information. We’re not trying to make up data. We’re going to use what we’ve got and the facts that we have to make the best decisions possible for the workers and the community.”
Ryan Mendenhall of Las Vegas Paving said all employees must take a naturally occurring asbestos training class before stepping foot on the job. The two-hour class will teach workers about risks and mitigation procedures. He added that the type of explosive Las Vegas Paving will be using for blasting will limit the amount of dust in the air.
“We are well aware of the serious nature of it,” Mendenhall said.
Mayor Roger Tobler commended the agencies for working together and stressed the importance of communication during construction. All agencies will be working out of an office at 1404 Colorado St. where residents can ask questions and get updates on the project.
“I think there might be some real value with some coordination with everybody,” Tobler said. “If we have some delays or anything else, it would be nice to have some protocols in place among the different agencies.”
Officials expect the project to be completed by July 2018.
Contact reporter Steven Slivka at sslivka@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow @StevenSlivka on Twitter.
