Portion of Grand Teton Drive remains closed for cleanup
A rash of flood-inducing storms have left many northwest Las Vegas Valley roadways in turmoil, causing an estimated $350,000 in cleanup costs alone, according to Las Vegas city officials.
Two straight weekends of torrential thunderstorms in northwest Clark County sent a mud, soot, and ashed-filled flood pouring down from the Spring Mountains, thrashing roadways as it went.
According to Clark County Regional Flood Control District spokeswoman Kelsey Hand, the water caught at the Kyle Canyon Detention Basin flows underground until it exits at Hualapai Way and flows hard to the east, causing the intense flooding seen in recent storms.
While additional damage estimates are still being tallied, some relief may be in store for northwest Las Vegas residents.
Hand said that the construction bidding for a proposed flood channel, which will run along Grand Teton Drive, from Durango Drive to Rainbow Boulevard, will close on Sept. 12.
The 18-month project is expected to officially begin in January.
A second channel, running farther west along the harder-hit portion of Grand Teton Drive, from Hualapai Way to Tee Pee Lane, is in the works as well.
“Right now, that is on the master plan,” Hand said.
Though it is unclear exactly when the second channel will be built, Hand said that officials are re-evaluating the plan to deal with the recent saturation of roads in the far northwest.
“We’re all on the same page. This is a huge problem,” Hand said.
Las Vegas streets aren’t the only ones to be affected by the recent deluges.
At least one large chunk of roadway along Kyle Canyon Road was severed from the highway after the Aug. 25 storm flooded the canyon.
The road has been temporarily repaired and is currently usable, according to Nevada Department of Transportation spokesman Damon Hodge.
Several residential roads in the Rainbow subdivision were damaged as well.
The county and the state transportation department did not have damage estimates for the affected roadways available.
As of Tuesday evening, Grand Teton Drive between Tee Pee Lane and Oso Blanca Road remains closed. All other roads are open, according to city officials.
Motorists are advised to use Gilcrease Avenue as an alternate route while work crews clean up debris from the weekend storms.
While heavy storms like those seen the last two weekends aren’t expected, the National Weather Service isn’t necessarily ruling them out. Moisture will hang around, while the chances of thunderstorms will be less than 25 percent throughout the week. As the weekend nears, the threat of thunderstorms will continue to decrease. Temperatures are expected to hover around 100 degrees most of the week.
Contact reporter Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.