Sign of the times: More I-11 signage coming to Las Vegas Valley

Work will soon begin to change out signs along U.S. Highway 95 through the Las Vegas Valley to reflect a new freeway name.

Sign panel installation work will start by the end of the year to add Interstate 11 signage on U.S. 95, from the Henderson interchange through Kyle Canyon Road in the northwest valley, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation. The exact project start date is still being determined, according to NDOT spokeswoman Kelsey McFarland.

The $3 million project is expected to take between seven and eight months to complete once work begins. There are 1,075 sign panels that will be added or swapped out as part of the project.

A long time coming

When the signs begin to be updated, NDOT Director Tracy Larkin Thomason said, it will have been a long time coming.

“The signs are ready, but it’s actually getting coordinated and put up,” Larkin Thomason told the Review-Journal last month. “We’re really excited to see that. I started working on I-11 before it existed as I-11, so it has been several years.”

The freeway is already signed as I-11 from the Nevada-Arizona border to the Henderson Spaghetti Bowl.

New I-11 signage was added around the recently completed Charleston-U.S. 95 interchange, and some wayfinding applications also started calling the highway I-11, which has caused some confusion.

While the interchange project was nearing completion and NDOT knowing it was set to add the signs along the highway this year, the department moved to include the I-11 signs with the Charleston project. That decision was made to get the I-11 signage installation out of the way and not cause further disruptions at the interchange, after years of work wrapping up earlier this month.

As the sign panels are being added, NDOT will look to minimize traffic issues associated with the work. Exact road and lane closures are still being finalized, but McFarland noted there may be brief, temporary traffic stoppages on I-11, Interstate 15 and the 215 Beltway to safely install the new panels.

“We are not installing new overhead sign foundations or supports, but we are replacing the panels on existing overhead signs,” McFarland said last week via email. “Any stoppages would be limited to the hours between midnight and 4 a.m. and would not exceed 15 minutes. Lane restrictions may also be necessary.”

Once the new sign panels are in place next year, 30.5 miles of the freeway will be signed as I-11, between the Nevada-Arizona border and Kyle Canyon Road.

Moving forward

Adding the I-11 signs will mark the next step in a lengthy process to get I-11 extended even farther — through Nevada and then through Arizona to Phoenix. The ultimate long-term goal will be to link Canada and Mexico via I-11.

The first portion of I-11 opened in 2018, after the completion of a $318 million project to bring the first 15 miles to life, between near Boulder City to the Nevada-Arizona border.

The next possible portion of U.S. 95 to be re-signed as I-11 is the stretch between Kyle Canyon Road through Indian Springs. NDOT is conducting a study on the portion of U.S. 95 to determine which of the three options is the preferred method of moving the project forward.

“Seeing what it takes to bring 95 up to interstate standards,” Larkin Thomason said. “North of that (Kyle Canyon) it will still be 95, until we bring it up to standards. At that point we can start progressively moving up the corridor.”

No matter which option is chosen, seven new interchanges would need to be built and three existing interchanges would need to be brought up to interstate code.

Although the process is years in the making, with many years — likely more than a decade-plus — to go, Larkin Thomason said she is proud to be part of a new interstate coming to life.

“There’s so few new interstates in the country. To actually see the birth of a new one and see it expand, it’s exciting,” Larkin Thomason said.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X. Send questions and comments to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com.