Project Neon nearing finish line in Las Vegas, but work remains

Gov. Steve Sisolak touted the major completion of Project Neon last week after the nearly $1 billion project was declared 96 percent finished, but there’s still some work left to do before the army of orange cones is removed from Interstate 15.

Monday’s openings of the I-15 high-occupancy vehicle lanes, the Spaghetti Bowl HOV flyover ramp and the Neon Gateway, which will connect the carpool lanes with downtown Las Vegas, mark the final major openings associated with Project Neon.

Still, the project won’t be fully finished until July, when a bevy of tasks are complete.

The area that is asked about most by readers — stretches of I-15 that are bumpy and uneven — will be addressed next month.

Crumb rubber asphalt overlay will be placed on I-15, smoothing out the ride in the area. Restriping will be done after the overlay is in place.

Asphalt overlay entails applying a new layer of asphalt to a deteriorating surface instead of tearing up the old asphalt surface entirely. The rubber in the asphalt overlay is derived from used automobile tires and then mixed in with the asphalt. The process uses the existing layers as a base for the new asphalt pavement.

The Nevada Department of Transportation needs to wait to carry out the asphalt overlay, as the temperature needs to be 80 degrees and rising for proper adhesion, said NDOT spokesman Tony Illia.

Also, the 42 active traffic management signs that span stretches of I-15 and U.S. 95 will go online by mid-July. Though they have been in place since the end of February, activating them has taken NDOT longer than expected.

“Obtaining permanent power from NV Energy and the systems integration into the FAST Southern Nevada Traffic Operations Center has taken longer than expected,” Illia said.

Aside from that work, repaving and restriping remains to be done on various portions of roads in the Project Neon area between now and late June.

Freeway

— U.S. 95 between City Parkway and Rancho Drive.

Freeway ramps:

— U.S. 95 southbound to I-15 southbound collector distributor road.

— I-15/Charleston ramps.

— I-15/Sahara southbound off-ramp and northbound on-ramp.

— U.S. 95 and Martin Luther King Boulevard ramps.

— Spaghetti Bowl ramps.

City streets:

— Alta Drive/Bonneville Avenue, I-15 to Martin Luther King.

— Wyoming Avenue and Industrial Road intersection.

— Western Avenue.

— Grand Central Parkway from Premium Outlet Drive to Western.

— Charleston Boulevard from Shadow Lane to Commerce Street.

— Martin Luther King between Bonanza Road and Mineral Avenue.

— Symphony Park Avenue.

— Oakey Boulevard, Martin Luther King to Ivanhoe Way.

Outside of those items, landscaping and aesthetic work will occur between now and July, when Project Neon will officially wrap up with a celebratory event originally scheduled for May. So don’t pull out that party hat just yet, as a few more bumps in the road to 100 percent completion lie ahead for Project Neon.

I-15 closure

A portion of Interstate 15 near downtown will shut to traffic overnight this week because of Project Neon.

The southbound lanes of I-15 at Charleston Boulevard will close from 10 p.m. Tuesday until 5 a.m. Wednesday for overhead sign work, NDOT announced last week.

Drivers who wish to continue on I-15 southbound will be detoured to get off the freeway at Charleston. They’ll then go through the traffic light at the intersection and re-enter I-15 from the Charleston on-ramp.

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Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.