Brace yourself for airport road construction

At McCarran International Airport, visitors should factor in a different sort of delay during the next year. These potential disruptions will happen outside the confines of the airport in the form of orange cones, which have become as synonymous with Las Vegas as stories of Paris Hilton acting obnoxious.

These delays will affect everyday commuters as much as airport visitors.

Late last year, one northbound lane in the airport connector tunnel was shut down in preparation for a new road system that will guide some motorists into the airport and allow others to bypass McCarran and continue on to Swenson Street.

All lanes in the tunnel are scheduled to reopen to traffic early next year. And allow me to throw this in: Despite rumors bouncing around town, the airport has zero intention of permanently closing the tunnel it built in 1994.

Unfortunately, the reopening of the connector tunnel will not signal the end of traffic woes and road construction at and near the airport. In preparation for the opening of its new Terminal 3, McCarran officials are building a network of bridges and flyovers as well as widening and resurfacing existing roads.

The reconfiguration of the airport system will ultimately alleviate the merge-fest that takes place just north of the tunnel. We all know how this goes: Traffic in the right lanes tries to maneuver left into the airport, and those in the left struggle to get to the right to hit Swenson. Then, yikes, there’s a concrete barrier and, always, a taxi is practically stuck up our tailpipe.

“People will appreciate this when it’s all said and done,” airport spokesman Chris Jones said. “Right now you have taxis coming one way and people rushing to catch a flight coming from another. That’s not ideal.”

When the improvements are complete, traffic heading into the airport will be separated from motorists exiting, and all airport traffic will be separated from commuters who use the airport connector as a north-south route between the Las Vegas Beltway and Tropicana Avenue or Flamingo Road.

McCarran is somewhat unique in that it shares its roadways with commuters; most major airports are off to the side of a freeway and have their own road systems. In Las Vegas, airport users and commuters are intermingled. On top of that, some motorists traveling to Swenson have learned a tricky shortcut: They stay in the left lanes toward the airport then cut back to the right and merge onto Swenson with traffic exiting the airport. This allows them to avoid the congested intersection of Russell Road and Swenson.

When the new system is completed, those attempting that shortcut will find themselves stuck in lanes that wind through the airport terminals.

“They’ll now find themselves in the roadways system, and they’ll have to follow that airport roadway system all the way out,” Jones said. “It’s a mistake they’ll make once.”

The work is being done to make the drive through the airport more convenient. Those headed to departure or passenger pickup will be traveling on one stretch of roadway that will eventually split into two flyovers that dump motorists off at their location of choice.

Meanwhile, cabbies and motorists leaving the airport will travel on the other side of a barrier and be guided below the bridge to Terminal 3 and fed into traffic headed toward the Las Vegas Beltway or along Swenson.

This might sound complicated and unfortunately motorists no longer will have those nifty colored arrows embedded in the road to guide them.

Jones said the manufacturer who made the rubberized material is no longer in business, so the airport will rely on run-of-the-mill overhead signage.

The good news is that the road system should be smoother in the end. And the end should be sometime in 2012.

Unless, of course, there are delays.

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call Adrienne Packer at 702-387-2904, or send an e-mail to roadwarrior@reviewjournal
.com. Please include your phone number.