$39M project expected to snarl downtown traffic
Get prepared for more traffic snarls in downtown Las Vegas as a $39 million project is set to impact U.S. Highway 95 for over a year.
The project will rehabilitate a 2-mile-long viaduct — long bridge-like structure — running from Eastern Avenue to Interstate 15, the Nevada Department of Transportation announced Wednesday.
Plans call for the project to kick off in mid-April, with work occurring for six days per week, lasting until mid-2022.
“The project will extend the near-term service life of the viaduct, portions of which were built almost 60 years ago,” said NDOT spokesman Tony Illia. “However, plans are underway for replacing the viaduct as part of the future Downtown Access Project, which is currently in the early environmental planning stages.”
The viaduct project will repair and overlay the entire 1.2 million square foot viaduct deck surface between the Union Pacific Railroad (near Main Street) and 21st Street. In addition, the project will reconstruct the Casino Center Boulevard offramp hinge while seismically retrofitting various viaduct columns.
A new southbound lane also will be added between I-15 and Eastern and the Eastern southbound offramp will be widened to two lanes.
The Eastern and Desert Inn Road bridges, which have developed cracks in the structural steel box girders, will also be reconstructed.
“The project’s traffic control plan calls for maintaining at least two lane of traffic in each direction during daytime hours,” Illia said. “However, night work may squeeze it down to one travel lane each way.”
The stretch of U.S. 95 averaged 183,000 vehicles daily pre-pandemic, with heavy trucks accounting for 1.2 percent of the total traffic.
Due to the heavy use of the highway, the 370-working-day project contract carries up to $1.38 million in early completion incentives for contractor Las Vegas Paving. Additionally, penalties of $16,250 per day will be assessed for late completion.
The state and federally funded project will generate 500 jobs, Illia said.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.
