New Year’s traffic clogs I-15 at Primm; Kyle Canyon Road clears
If you thought heading back to Southern California on Saturday might be easier than Sunday, think again.
For most of the afternoon, there has been at least a 12-mile backup on Interstate 15 at the California-Nevada border at Primm, according to a tweet from the Regional Transportation Commission. Primm is about 45 miles southwest of Las Vegas.
As of 5 p.m., the backup had been reduced to 10 miles.
#FASTALERT 02-Jan-2021 5 pm, =UPDATE=Travel Alert:
I-15 South 10 Mile Backup to NV/CA state line.
Plan for Major Delays.— RTC Southern Nevada (@RTCSNV) January 3, 2021
Traffic volume was slow at the border during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic but the volume has been steadily increasing since June, eventually eclipsing 2019’s total in October.
But traffic during the Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 25-29) was down 20 percent compared with 2019.
Mount Charleston traffic
Earlier Saturday, traffic on Kyle Canyon Road was diverted northbound at Deer Creek Highway junction because of overcrowding of vehicles, the Metropolitan Police Department said. The road was closed temporarily on New Year’s Day for the same issue.
Late Saturday afternoon, Metro said in a statement, “all roads are now open and normal traffic has resumed.”