Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017 | 4:27 p.m.
Clark County is abandoning its pursuit of an elevated expressway.
The proposed expressway, which would have cost an estimated $200 million, would have run along Koval Lane and Swenson Street to and from McCarran International Airport. It was touted by county staff and engineering consultants CH2M as the best option for handling airport traffic, which is expected to increase.
The proposal, however, received harsh criticism from the beginning.
The county held a public meeting in August and accepted public comments to gauge interest in the proposed project, which came out of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada’s Transportation Investment Business Plan.
Public Works Director Denis Cederburg told Clark County commissioners during a presentation Tuesday that the Nevada Resort Association opposed an elevated expressway on Koval. Similarly, UNLV expressed concern about the negative visual impact the structure would have on the Thomas & Mack Center and Swenson Avenue.
Other businesses and residential property owners were worried the project would lower their property values. Private citizens also expressed a preference for infrastructure spending on mass transit options such as light rail and monorail.
Cederburg said the county will pursue alternatives for easing traffic congestion between McCarran and the resort corridor.
They include:
• Extending Tompkins Avenue west to Paradise Road at an estimated cost of $20 million.
• Extending Howard Hughes Parkway south from Flamingo Road to Tropicana Avenue for an estimated cost of $42 million to $52 million.
• Widening Koval Lane at an estimated cost $56.4 million.
