Work on Sunset Road project due to wrap up by end of June
It is a Game of Cones, this epic world we navigate.
Dodging orange traffic cones in one place, then watching them appear again elsewhere, as if there were a battle for dominance among the people in charge and we were merely players.
This week in Road Warrior-dom we’ll note the wrap-up of one big road construction project pretty soon, the start of another huge one, and a tiny one that’ll keep the road from jarring your jawbone.
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Sometimes, I see conspiracies. I wonder if y’all get together and plan to email me virtually identical questions at the same time.
Like this week, two guys sent questions about Sunset Road between Decatur and Valley View boulevards.
Rick noted that it looks like it’s paved and ready to use.
“Is there a timetable for the opening of Sunset Road?” he asked.
Mike was more blunt.
“Cities have been built in less time than this project,” he wrote.
No doubt that is true. But progress comes, Mike.
I checked in with Dan Kulin, a Clark County spokesman.
This project includes an overpass for the railroad tracks and traffic signals at Sunset and Arville Street.
I should also note that the Regional Transportation Commission’s FAST — the unit that handles traffic signal timing in the valley — shares its headquarters on that part of Sunset with Nevada Highway Patrol troopers, so even the powers that be are affected by the project.
In any case, Kulin said it’s on track to be finished by the end of next month.
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That’s just in time for another major road project in the southern part of the valley to get started.
The Nevada Department of Transportation announced last week that there will be a bunch of lane reductions and other traffic cone goings on along Interstate 15 between Silverado Ranch Boulevard and St. Rose Parkway.
These will start Tuesday and last for the rest of the year as crews work on a new I-15 interchange at Cactus Avenue.
Beginning June 3, southbound traffic will divert onto the northbound lanes, and then the reverse will happen.
It’s going to be a mess for a while, folks.
The $62 million project, which began last month, isn’t set to be completed until late next year. In addition to the new interchange, the project will include construction of Cactus between Dean Martin Drive and Las Vegas Boulevard, improvements to Cactus between Polaris Avenue and Dean Martin Drive, and traffic signals at the intersections of Las Vegas Boulevard and Cactus and at Dean Martin Drive and Cactus, as well as signs and whatnot.
So buckle up and watch out for those cones.
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On a smaller scale, Joe wondered why driving on Pecos Road between Flamingo Road and Tropicana Avenue is so gosh darn unpleasant.
“I have to drive it most days and it is like driving over a washboard,” he wrote.
Again, I checked in with Kulin. He said the county has that part of Pecos “on the schedule” for fixing, but that schedule doesn’t have dates on it.
So there will be a fix, Joe. I just can’t say when.
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And can I say another thing here?
Yes?
OK. The Nevada Department of Transportation did this cool thing the other day. We had a little piece about it in the paper, but I wanted to be sure you saw it.
More than 100 people have died on the state’s roadways already this year. That’s more than twice the number of homicides in Clark County so far year, despite all the media attention put on murder and mayhem.
To help focus attention on the problem, NDOT came up with an idea: Let’s remind people how dangerous the roads are.
They’re using the electronic freeway signs to keep a tally of how many people have been killed on the roads this year.
These are the signs that typically tell you travel times to popular freeway exits.
This is a much better use.
Got a transportation question, comment or gripe? Ship it off to roadwarrior
@reviewjournal.com. Follow the Road Warrior on Twitter @RJroadwarrior.
■ Sky Pointe Drive from Private Drive to New Leaf Avenue closed Tuesday through July 9 for upgrades.
■ Flamingo Road from Wynn Road to Cameron Street will have daytime lane closures weekdays through June 14 for sewer work.
■ Bermuda Road between Warm Springs Road and Wigwam Avenue will have several lane restrictions in place intermittently weekdays through June 14 for a field survey.
■ Wigwam Avenue between Las Vegas Boulevard and Bermuda Road will have several lane restrictions intermittently weekdays through June 14 for a field survey.
■ Coke Street, Racel Street, Tenaya Way and Farm Road in northwest Las Vegas will be under construction weekdays from Monday through mid-August.
■ Fort Apache Road will be closed at Elkhorn Road from Monday through June 13 for road rebuilding.
■ Mello Lane between Bradley Road and Jones Boulevard will be closed through August 13 for bridge work.
■ Decatur Boulevard from Harmon Avenue to just north of Flamingo Road will have daytime lane restrictions through July 31 for sewer rehabilitation.
■ Stewart Avenue between Las Vegas Boulevard and Main Street, disruptions through June 15 for streetscape improvements.
■ 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.
■ Jones Boulevard, from U.S. Highway 95 to Sahara Avenue, will have delays through June 1 for widening.
■ Valley View Boulevard from U.S. Highway 95 to Desert Inn Road will have delays through June 30 for widening.
■ Bonneville and Clark avenues between Las Vegas Boulevard and Maryland Parkway have lane restrictions through January for street improvements.
GASOLINE PRICES
The average price of gasoline Friday in the Las Vegas Valley was $3.46 per gallon; the state average was $3.57; the national average was $3.68. The national average is up 2 cents from a week ago, up 18 cents from a month ago and is the same as it was a year ago.
Las Vegas Review-Journal
