End to end, Sahara Avenue is work in progress
For the past several months, several readers have expressed their irritation with road work, land closures and traffic along Sahara Avenue. Marcia is the latest, saying that not only is the constant construction a nuisance, but the construction workers pose a danger. We’ll allow Marcia to kick off today’s column.
My husband and I go to the gym on Sahara Avenue, just east of Lindell Road, early in the morning. Sahara is a mess in that area, and it seems they have been working on it overnights for a very long time. At 4 a.m., we were driving west on Sahara — very slowly — as the streets are all torn up. One of the workers stepped out in front of our vehicle with a stop sign. Had we not slammed on the brakes, we would have hit him. I’m sure that not everyone driving Sahara at that time of day is as sober as we were, and it really could have been a problem. What is going on there, and what is taking so long?
This is a fairly extensive project that started early last spring. The main purpose of the $40 million project is to install designated bus lanes along Sahara between Hualapai Way and Boulder Highway.
There is plenty of other work going on as well. The Regional Transportation Commission is putting in additional bus shelters, widening sidewalks and adding landscaping along sidewalks and in the median. Crews are also repaving the aging roadway.
In the end, the project — largely funded with federal stimulus money — will be an aesthetic boost to one of the city’s primary arterials, which slices through commercial, residential and retail districts.
Over the next few weeks, you will notice more lane closures. Between Las Vegas Boulevard and Boulder Highway, shelters will be installed and the road will be re-striped. Between Decatur Boulevard and Rancho Drive, crews will be working on landscaping and sidewalks. Between Rainbow Boulevard and Durango Drive, they will be milling, paving and re-striping Sahara. Between Hualapai and Durango, crews will be raising utilities and doing repaving work.
The project should be completed early next year.
Hermann wonders why the job was left unfinished: On the recent paving job on Interstate 15, I was glad it was done even though with some complaining from many. However, there is something I don’t understand. Why don’t they pave over the overpass/bridges portions of the freeway. It’s great driving on the new pavement, and then one is subjected to the “old” off-road, rough driving over those areas. One is thrown around going over these unpaved overpass sections, especially when driving at relatively high speeds. And there are several other areas with the same issue. Your input would be welcome.
Several readers have recently submitted the same question. The Nevada Department of Transportation is expecting bridge inspections in the next year or so. Engineers decided not to waste money laying new asphalt in case crews have to go in and repair the structures, which probably would mean removing and reinstalling the new pavement. Once the inspections are complete, those sections of freeway will also receive a fresh laying of asphalt.
Mark wants to know what is happening on Volunteer: They recently widened Volunteer Boulevard and Airport Executive Drive behind the M Resort. They put in medians at the new intersection, but now it looks as though they are building yet another intersection about 300 feet west of the current one. What’s going on there?
Lots of stuff is going on there in an attempt to relieve congestion and improve access to the Sun City Anthem community.
Henderson is widening Executive Airport Drive and Volunteer Boulevard from two lanes to four lanes. It is also building a completely new four-lane road called Via Inspirada.
The city is also extending and widening a previously unused segment of Bicentennial Parkway to join with Via Inspirada. There will be a four-way intersection with Volunteer stretching east and west and Via Inspirada coming in from the south and Executive Airport from the north. Not everybody will be hindered by the traffic signal, however. A portion of the original Executive Airport/Volunteer curve will remain so that motorists traveling west on Volunteer can bypass the signal and continue north on Executive Airport. This project is expected to be completed by the end of January.
David seeks better markings: There is what seems to me a dangerous situation on Highway 95 north near Lake Mead Boulevard. In the center lane there are intermittent rows of partially removed Botts’ dots. These are, most certainly, left over from the hundreds of lane changes this long-suffering roadway has endured over its history. The lumps are near the right edge of the center lane, and they are in just the right position to be run over by the passenger front wheel, making one instantly think that one is not correctly in the lane. Should not the time and effort be undertaken to remove this significant hazard?
According to the Nevada Department of Transportation, this issue is being addressed, David. You are correct in your assumption that the dots were left over markings from the original lanes along U.S. Highway 95. Crews removed the buttons to realign the freeway and add lanes — including taking away the shoulder — to reduce the impact during construction.
Construction workers are in the process of milling and repaving the highway, so hopefully this problem will soon go away.
Contact reporter Adrienne Packer at apacker@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904.
• For the next two weeks, the Interstate 15 north ramp to Frank Sinatra Drive will be closed between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. for utility work. Traffic will be detoured to Russell Road and looped back around to Frank Sinatra.• From 9 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday, the ramp from Interstate 15 south to Las Vegas Boulevard will be closed.
• Through Friday , expect lane restrictions on Cheyenne Avenue between Rampart Boulevard and Hualapai Way. Inside lanes in both directions will be closed from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily for median improvements.
• For the next two weeks, expect delays just north of the airport connector tunnel as work is done on a new bridge that will connect to Terminal 3, which will open next summer. Construction hours are 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Thursday.
• For the next two months, expect lane restrictions on Torrey Pines Drive between U.S. Highway 95 and Cheyenne Avenue as Torrey Pines is resurfaced.
• For the next five weeks, lane restrictions will be in effect 24 hours a day on Rainbow Boulevard. It will be reduced to one lane between Gowan Road and Red Coach Avenue while crews repave the street. Alternate routes include Tenaya Way and Rancho Drive.
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