Mountain of roadwork tough hill to climb – or finish
We are pushing the boulder up the mountain, day by day, always hoping for progress, to reach the top.
But there is no top. The mountain never ends.
This is where we’re at with our roads. They are adequate. We want them to be better. They’ll never be good enough.
We push that boulder up, get a new road, inch the boulder a few inches further, see another road repaved, and then we slip. The boulder rolls backward, potholes appear, cracks erode, and we do it all over again.
Andy, for example, sounded both hopeful and suspicious in his email.
“Now that Sunset Road is open from Las Vegas Boulevard to Decatur Boulevard, when, if ever, will it continue on to Fort Apache Road?”
Never, Andy. Sunset Road will forever run from the extreme western end of the valley to the extreme eastern end of the valley except for a tiny portion between Jones and Decatur boulevards that will remain a dirt road suited only to what the cops call off-highway vehicles.
Kidding! I’m totally kidding. That kind of thing could never happen here. It’s not like we’re talking about the northwestern leg of the 215 Beltway or anything.
Clark County does have plans for a fancy new, totally paved Sunset Road between Decatur and Jones. But there’s no money right now.
So hold steady, for now. They’ll get there when they can.
Muriel doesn’t seem too happy with the way things are over at the intersection of U.S. Highway 95, Summerlin Parkway and Rainbow Boulevard.
She apparently doesn’t have email. Because she grabbed one of my recent columns, took it out of the paper, and scrawled her question in red marker across the text in huge letters. I believe I detected a note of frustration.
“Still can’t, after many calls, go WEST on Summerlin Parkway from Rainbow??” she wrote. “What gives???”
I get it, Muriel. Such a ramp would benefit some people, including me. If I’m going from my parents’ house to my house, I have to either go up Westcliff Drive to get on Summerlin Parkway at Buffalo Drive, or take U.S. 95, which I cannot stand.
But here’s the thing: Have you looked around where those two freeways and Rainbow all run into one another? It’s kind of crowded. There are ramps all over the place. Freeway entrances, lights, twists and turns.
As much as an entrance onto Summerlin Parkway would be nice, I think it might also make the place messier. More confusing.
In any event, I checked with the city of Las Vegas on this. The city’s traffic engineer isn’t aware of any plans at all to add a ramp, nor is the Nevada Department of Transportation.
Such a project, if it were to happen, would be enormously expensive and wouldn’t bring that much benefit. There’s not much demand for it.
So you can stop calling whoever you’re calling, Muriel. It’s not going to work.
Why, Charles asked, is traffic in the right lane on Washington Avenue as it goes over the U.S. 95 bridge forced to turn right? This happens in both directions. Sometimes, people ignore the rules and go straight anyway. It’s very annoying.
Jennifer Davies with the city of Las Vegas explained that eastbound traffic wanting to turn right onto Rainbow is really heavy, especially during morning rush hour. The freeway entrance is that way. A right turn lane makes sense.
Westbound traffic has to turn right onto Rock Springs Drive because there are houses on Washington right there. People park in front of them. A second through lane would be a tight squeeze.
Besides, traffic volumes are really low there, she said, so a second lane isn’t needed.
Audrey wants to know what’s going on down by Desert Rose Golf Course.
“Can you tell me what they are doing on Stephanie Street between Sahara and Vegas Valley,” she wrote. “They have been working there for a couple of weeks but no sign of what is happening. Are they finally going to make the street go through all the way?”
That would be a huge surge upward for the boulder, wouldn’t it? But this is just routine stuff here. Not progress so much as maintenance.
That’s not Stephanie Street, by the way. I think you’re talking about Sloan Lane, which dead ends south of Sahara when it runs into the Las Vegas Wash.
In any case, Dan Kulin with Clark County said NV Energy is doing some work out there, and the county is installing this stuff called rip-rap.
Rip-rap is actually a bunch of rocks that will line the wash to keep erosion to a minimum.
They’re making sure the boulder doesn’t roll back down the mountain.
Got a transportation question, comment or gripe? Ship it off to roadwarrior@review
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■ Westcliff Drive between Cimarron Road and Rainbow Boulevard will have lane restrictions through Aug. 23 for repaving and other work.
■ Alta Drive between Rancho Drive and Valley View Boulevard will have alternating lane closures through mid-August for repaving.
■ 8th Street between Charleston Boulevard and Gass Avenue will be closed through Oct. 31 for building.
■ Bonneville Avenue between Main Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard will have disruptions through Oct. 8 for concrete repair.
■ Buffalo Drive between Lake Mead Boulevard and Smoke Ranch Road will have disruptions through Sept. 15 for gas line work.
■ Interstate 15 between Lake Mead Boulevard and the Spaghetti Bowl will have lane reductions and closures through spring 2014 for construction of the F Street overpass.
■ Jones Boulevard between U.S. Highway 95 and Sahara Avenue will have disruptions through Aug. 24 for road widening.
■ The D Street offramp from northbound I-15 will be closed through the fall for work on the F Street overpass.
■ The right lane on southbound Las Vegas Boulevard from Rue de Monte Carlo to Tropicana Avenue will be closed through March 2014 for construction at New York-New York.
■ Martin Luther King Boulevard will be closed at Oakey Boulevard through Aug. 16 for water main work related to Project Neon, the reconstruction of I-15. Parts of Oakey also will be restricted.
■ Maryland Parkway from St. Rose Parkway to Pebble Road will have lane closures through the end of the year for repaving and other work.
■ I-15 near Cactus Avenue will have disruptions through the end of the year for bridge work.
■ One westbound inside left turn lane on Flamingo Road to Arville Street will be closed through Aug. 30 for sewer work.
■ Coke Street, Racel Street, Tenaya Way and Farm Road in northwest Las Vegas will be under construction weekdays through mid-August.
■ Mello Lane between Bradley Road and Jones Boulevard will be closed through Aug. 13 for bridge work.
■ The intersection of Desert Foothills Drive and Alta Drive will be closed through August 2014 for rebuilding.
■ Vegas Drive between Rancho Drive and Jones Boulevard will have lane restrictions through January for street improvements.
■ Bonneville and Clark avenues between Las Vegas Boulevard and Maryland Parkway will have lane restrictions through January for street improvements.
GASOLINE PRICES
The average gasoline price Friday in the Las Vegas Valley was $3.62 per gallon; the state average was $3.67. The national average of $3.60 is down 5 cents from a week ago, up 8 cents from a month ago and down 6 cents from a year ago.
