Improvement work begins on Lone Mountain Road in Las Vegas
A $17 million improvement project started Thursday along a bustling five-mile stretch of Lone Mountain Road in the rapidly growing northwest area of Las Vegas.
Plans call for widening the street with two travel lanes in each direction between the 215 Beltway and Tenaya Way, along with adding sidewalks and bicycle lanes by March 2019.
“Lone Mountain at one time not too long ago was the gravel haul route, where the big trucks and cement trucks were coming down here,” said Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown, whose District C includes the project. “Now we’re getting that infrastructure investment to make sure this community is served in an appropriate way.”
Lone Mountain marks the first official project of the fuel-revenue indexing tax extension that was approved by Clark County voters in November 2016, aimed at raising $3 billion for road improvements over the next decade.
The previous version of the fuel indexing tax, adopted by the County Commission in 2013, raised about $700,00 to pay for 225 road projects countywide.
“If you ever traveled on Lone Mountain during rush hour, it’s tough,” said Las Vegas City Councilman Stavros Anthony, whose Ward 4 is adjacent to the project area.
“It’s bumper to bumper and people are trying to cross the street, and it’s very very dangerous,” Anthony said. “If you look at the next 10 years, growth on the west side of 215 is going to be phenomenal with huge housing and commercial developments on the way, so Lone Mountain will be an important east-west road.”
Over the next 10 months, work crews will work on Lone Mountain one mile at a time, gradually moving the work zone from east to west, said Ryan Mendenhall, a division manager for Las Vegas Paving, the project’s contractor.
Along with relieving traffic congestion, the project is also aimed at increasing safety for pedestrians and an active equestrian community living in the nearby neighborhoods.
“Lone Mountain has been a tough place for our kids on bikes and walking for quite some time, and to get some real improvements and ease of traffic is going to be greatly appreciated,” Keith Wipperman, principal of nearby Leavitt Middle School. “I hear a lot of concerns about traffic from parents and from kids, so I’m very excited about this.”
Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Follow @AMarroquin_LV on Twitter.
