Traffic being redirected to accommodate freeway construction projects

By Tovin Lapan

Friday, Oct. 11, 2013 | 12:19 p.m.

Motorists should prepare for traffic migraines, both acute and long term, as the Nevada Department of Transportation and Clark County are set to alter traffic patterns for a couple of major construction projects.

One project set for Interstate 15 will last into spring, and a different project on the 215 Beltway will affect traffic for two weeks.

Starting at 9 p.m. Tuesday, northbound and southbound traffic on I-15 will be limited to the northbound side of the freeway, with two lanes provided for each direction of traffic between the Spaghetti Bowl and Lake Meade Boulevard. The pattern shift is expected to last until Spring 2014 as part of the project to reopen F Street underneath the freeway.

Crews recently finished building the northbound portion of the new F Street Bridge, during which all traffic was confined to the southbound side of the freeway, and the new configuration will facilitate construction of the southbound portion of the F Street Bridge.

Additionally, the northbound I-15 exit to D Street/Washington Avenue will open at 6 a.m. Wednesday and will remain open, except for occasional nightly closures for finishing work. That same day, the D Street/Washington on-ramp to southbound I-15 will close and will remain closed until summer 2014. The Nevada Department of Transportation recommends using the Martin Luther King Boulevard on-ramp.

Since 2009, support walls for the interstate have physically blocked off the neighborhood around F Street from downtown Las Vegas. The F Street Connection Project will re-establish direct access between downtown Las Vegas and the West Las Vegas community, accommodating pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular traffic. The project includes resurfacing F Street, new sidewalks, curb and gutter installations, decorative lighting and new landscaping north to Washington Avenue. Also, there will be community-approved corridor panels celebrating the historic legacy of West Las Vegas. The project is due to be completed by the end of 2014.

From Oct. 14-26, a repaving project on the 215 Beltway between I-15 and Windmill Lane is expected to significantly affect traffic, according to NDOT.

Beginning at 9 a.m. Monday, traffic will be reduced from three to two lanes for westbound I-215 between Windmill and I-15. The repaving on the westbound side should be completed by Oct. 19, and then work on the eastbound side will start Oct. 21, reducing that direction to two lanes.

The highway on and off ramps in this area will also be affected at various times during the two weeks.

The repaving is part of Clark County’s federally funded I-215 Airport Connector Phase 1 project, which includes widening I-215 and bridges over Paradise Road, Warm Springs Road, Robindale Road, Duck Creek and the Airport Connector. The project is expected to be finished in January.