Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Commission approves street projects

The Regional Transportation Commission has given preliminary approval to $17.5 million in street improvement projects aimed at easing traffic congestion on U.S. 95.

The projects approved Thursday include converting the shoulders of U.S. 95 into auxiliary lanes and through lanes, installing ramp meters (regulating the flow of traffic onto the highway) and bus-only lanes, and restriping surface roads to provide more lanes.

The projects will be financed by a combination of state, city and county and RTC funds.

After some debate about approving the list of street projects, Las Vegas Councilman Matthew Callister said it was that or debate the larger $750 million to $1 billion overhaul of the valley's freeway system.

"If we're not going to do that, let's consider the billion-dollar option," Callister said. "We're in a crisis. We have to maximize the surface streets or the freeway."

While most projects were approved, the board held off creating a one-way couplet out of Bonanza Road and Washington Avenue and the widening of Washington pending neighborhood consensus.

It also delayed a plan to restrict travel on the Martin Luther King Boulevard on-ramp to eastbound U.S. 95 from 7-9 a.m. until the contracts are sent out to bid for that interchange improvement project.

County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates objected to restricting travel on the Martin Luther King on-ramp because people feared it was a step toward eliminating the interchange.

Gates also wanted to make sure the board followed the same position the North Las Vegas City Council had approved a week earlier.

Gates said residents objected to turning Bonanza and Washington into one-ways and widening Washington because of safety concerns.

"There's a housing project where they're talking about widening it," Gates said. "A number of kids walk to the school a mile away along that street."

Nevada Department of Transportation officials said the purpose of the changes was to improve the traffic flow on Rancho Drive.

The board agreed to NDOT's request to run both projects through the design process, work with the neighborhoods to reach consensus, and bring them back before the board for final approval.

archive