U.S. 95 reopens after closure for suspicious device
Things are not always what they seem, as Las Vegas police learned Wednesday afternoon when a suspicious device prompted the closure of the downtown portion of U.S. Highway 95.
“It ended up being nothing,” Las Vegas police spokesman Lawrence Hadfield said.
The device, described as inert, was a cylindrical object with silver end caps. Police did not specify exactly what the object was or what it contained. It was found by highway workers shortly before 1 p.m. in the southbound lanes of U.S. 95 near North City Parkway, Nevada Highway Patrol trooper Loy Hixson said.
Authorities were alerted and by 1:30 p.m., more than two miles of U.S. 95, from Rancho Drive to Las Vegas Boulevard were blocked off as crews investigated the pipe-shaped object. Police also evacuated the parking garage of the Molasky Corporate Center as a precaution. The garage, adjacent to the highway, is also used by employees at the nearby Internal Revenue Service building.
A Las Vegas Fire Department bomb squad robot approached the device shortly after 2:30 p.m. After inspecting it for about 15 minutes, the robot detonated the device, sending it over the freeway wall and plopping it onto North City Parkway, which was still open to drivers at the time. A witness saw pedestrians on the street shortly before the device went over the wall.
No injuries were reported in the incident. U.S. 95 was shut down for about two hours and fully reopened about 3:30 p.m.
This wasn’t the first time that authorities have inconvenienced valley motorists to protect them from a potential threat.
On Feb. 6, 2001, a bomb-sniffing dog inaccurately singled out a U-Haul truck as having explosives inside after a bomb threat was called in to a communications company near Tropicana Avenue and U.S. 95. Police evacuated the area and shut down a portion of U.S. 95 due to the threat.
The truck ended up having only a bag of clothes, shoes, and a few other personal effects in it.
On May 8, 2003, authorities shut down Summerlin Parkway in both directions, from Buffalo Drive to Town Center Drive, for five hours after the discovery of a suspicious 55-gallon drum in the parking garage at the Rampart Casino at the Resort at Summerlin.
While the drum was filled with a clear, gasoline-smelling liquid, it had no rigging or explosives attached to it.
Like Wednesday’s scare, neither threat posed a true hazard, but caused plenty of public woe for valley residents and motorists.
“We’re going to plan for the worst-case scenario, because we want to take every precaution to protect the public,” Hixson said.
Contact reporter Colton Lochhead at
clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.
