Expect delays, road closures as Project Neon paving begins
Motorists traveling near downtown Las Vegas this weekend can expect delays and road closures as workers put some of the finishing touches on Project Neon.
The final paving and striping work on the largest road project in state history will begin Friday night, with portions lasting until Monday morning, the Nevada Department of Transportation announced this week.
The multiple days of closures, which NDOT dubbed Pave-A-Palooza, includes the following weekend closures:
Friday night to Saturday night
– The Interstate 15 to U.S. Highway 95 high occupancy vehicle flyover will be closed between 10 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday.
Friday night to Monday morning
(All scheduled to occur from 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday)
– U.S. 95 will be reduced to one lane in each direction between Decatur and Casino Center boulevards.
– The I-15 southbound to U.S. 95 northbound will be closed.
– The Rancho Drive on-ramp to U.S. 95 southbound will be closed.
Saturday night to Monday morning
(All scheduled to occur from 8 p.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Monday)
– The U.S. 95 southbound to I-15 northbound will be closed.
– The U.S. 95 northbound off-ramp to Rancho will be closed.
– The Valley View Boulevard on-ramp to U.S. 95 northbound will be closed.
– The U.S. 95 southbound off-ramp to Rancho will be closed.
Crews are applying a special crumb rubber asphalt mix, incorporating shredded tires for a smoother, quieter ride.
“Crumb rubber lasts twice as long as traditional asphalt pavement while also creating a better friction surface with less wet weather splashing,” said Tony Illia, NDOT spokesman. “And it also recycles used tires that otherwise would end up in a landfill.”
The closures are scheduled to continue the following weekend, weather permitting, with the included work to finish out the paving work:
Project Neon, the nearly $1 billion 4-mile-widening of I-15 from Sahara to the Spaghetti Bowl, is 96 percent finished and scheduled for completion by mid-July. 
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.