Light sought on why intersection is still dark

The city of Henderson embarked on a new road configuration project more than a year ago, and while the intersection at Volunteer Boulevard and Executive Airport Drive is essentially complete, there are still a few snags that are nagging at residents who live in the Sun City Anthem area.

Here is Stan: Although the roadwork was completed several months ago, the street lamps and stop lights at that intersection are still not in operation. Last I heard, there was problem with getting power to the intersection due to right-of-way issues. Since this project took nearly a year to plan with an additional year to complete, how can a project run into what appears to be a planning problem?

Kathleen Richards, the city’s spokeswoman, explained that it will be at least two months before those signals are activated, and Stan is absolutely correct: This is about a problem NV Energy had with private land owners. The company is having difficulty securing the proper easements to juice up the signal. After months of negotiations, the power company finally made a deal with the property owner. The very next day, the property was sold. The new owner wasn’t so amenable to having an easement on his land. Now the city is redesigning how to get power to the signals and has had to start over again with process to acquire the right of way.

In light of Sunday’s column about confusion in McCarran International Airport’s passenger pickup area, Ann has this suggestion: I would like to suggest that the airport put either a letter or number on each column in passenger pick-up so that there is a reference when entering, instead of driver’s having to take their eyes off the road to search for their party.

Good suggestion, Ann. Airport spokesman Chris Jones said he will pass along your idea for review.

Speaking of McCarran, Linda asks: I utilized the economy lot a few weeks ago and was startled when told by the van driver that the lot would be closing on June 1 and that the only parking available would be in the terminal lots. Not only do I not understand how those lots — even factoring in parking at the new terminal — would provide sufficient parking, the idea of paying nearly twice the amount for parking is certainly unappealing.

The economy lot will not be closing on June 1, Linda. That is according to Jones, who said that those spaces are needed for summer travelers. Terminal 3’s first phase is scheduled to open June 27, and the full transition over to the new building won’t be complete until late August. Terminal 3’s garage offers 6,000 spaces. There will also be uncovered spaces just east of the new garage that will offer daily rates lower than the $14 a day the long-term garages charge. The new lot will be more convenient than the existing economy lot because passengers can walk to the terminal rather than waiting for shuttles. A second surface lot will be made available in late summer when the employee lot is converted to public parking. This will be within walking distance to Terminal 1. The economy lot that exists on Paradise Road will become an overflow parking area.

Marty is looking for an update: The Interstate 15 overpass construction has recently reduced I-15 to two lanes in each direction while work is done in the center lanes of the interstate. Could you discuss this North Fifth Street project?

Well Marty, the lane restrictions on Interstate 15 will continue for the better part of the year as crews extend the new North Fifth Street super-arterial over the freeway. In fact, a few months down the road here, we can expect traffic to be completely detoured off the freeway and back on as steel girders are put into place.

The full north-south arterial will connect Owens and Cheyenne avenues.

The first phase — Owens to Lake Mead — is complete. Crews are now working on Lake Mead to Losee Road, which includes the bridge across Interstate 15.

The last phase will be from Losee to Cheyenne. The road will be eight lanes between Owens and I-15 and then four lanes to Cheyenne. This is expected to be completed at the end of 2014.

Just to clarify: In Sunday’s column I mentioned that if you have been in McCarran International Airport’s short-term parking garage for less than 15 minutes and insert your ticket in the pay machine inside the garage, you will be charged $2. If you pay at the exit gate, up to 15 minutes is free. McCarran has signs on their signs that read, “Drive Thru, 0-15 minutes, NO CHARGE.” Airport officials said there are additional signs that read, “To avoid a charge while driving through, you must insert your ticket at an exit gate, not a walk-up pay station.”