Major Las Vegas Strip road project kicks off Wednesday

A major multiyear road project on Las Vegas Boulevard that kicks off this week will be anything but entertaining for area motorists.

The first phase of the planned five-year project will begin Wednesday on a stretch of both sides of the Las Vegas Strip running between Resorts World Drive and Spring Mountain Road. One or two lanes on both sides of Las Vegas Boulevard on the stretch will close to traffic from 12:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Wednesday through Friday, and again next week from Nov. 25-27.

Clark County officials said the first traffic impacts will be mostly minor nighttime lane closures.

“While the project will prompt significant closures and traffic changes eventually, the first impacts will be relatively minor nighttime lane closures,” said Dan Kulin, Clark County spokesman. Significant impacts could include 24/7 lane closures.

The initial lane closures are part of a $47.7 million portion of the project that will affect Las Vegas Boulevard from Spring Mountain to Sahara Avenue through early 2021.

The project is broken down into multiple phases over a 5.7-mile portion of the Strip, with each focusing on a section of Las Vegas Boulevard between Sahara and the 215 Beltway. The price tag for the entire project wasn’t immediately available.

Each phase includes repaving Las Vegas Boulevard, water main replacements, adding an additional fourth lane where right of way allows, pedestrian enhancements, technology and infrastructure upgrades to the traffic system, adding LED lighting and enhancement to medians. Work on all of the phases is expected to take more than five years to complete.

The county and various representatives of the resorts that line the Strip helped create the work timeline, according to Virginia Valentine, president of the Nevada Resort Association, who also sits on the Nevada Department of Transportation’s board of directors.

“Anytime there’s a project on Las Vegas Boulevard we’re very sensitive to how that’s going to impact what we’re doing,” Valentine told the Review-Journal in May. “I think they’ve met with everyone up and down the corridor and I think they’ve tried to address their concerns about their construction projects, special events, their timeline and hours of construction.”

Anywhere between 36,000 to 60,000 vehicles travel on the Strip daily, depending on the portion of the boulevard that’s being traveled at a given time, according to the county.

As each phase is carried out, lane reductions will vary. During working hours, lanes could be restricted to as few as one lane in each direction. During non-working hours, the county hopes to have at least two lanes in each direction open to travel.

Road work will be halted during major holidays and special events such as the NFL Draft in April, CES in January and the National Finals Rodeo in December.

Part of the project includes making the portion of the Strip from Sahara to the Welcome to Las Vegas sign a smart corridor, swapping existing light poles with smart poles that will serve as both small cell sites and lighting for the Strip.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.