NDOT pushes ahead on freeway projects near proposed Raiders stadium
State officials are proceeding with freeway improvements that would accommodate a potential stadium for the NFL’s Oakland Raiders and a factory for Faraday Future in North Las Vegas, although the future of both projects remains in question.
Environmental studies are underway for a $150 million reconfiguration of the Tropicana Avenue interchange at Interstate 15, along with a separate project that calls for construction of direct-access ramps that would connect a new carpool lane on I-15 to exits at Harmon and Hacienda avenues, the Nevada Department of Transportation’s director said Monday.
Both of those upgrades were listed in a transportation report released in October recommending that NDOT would need to build at least $899 million in freeway projects that were previously planned to accommodate a new 65,000-seat domed football stadium.
Remodeling could begin as soon as 2020 for the Tropicana Avenue interchange along I-15, aimed at relieving traffic that regularly backs up past Russell Road and the 215 Beltway, NDOT director Rudy Malfabon told the agency’s board of directors.
However, a timeline was not provided for the carpool off-ramps at Harmon and Hacienda. Both projects were part of feasibility reports released last year, while plans to widen I-15 between Tropicana and Blue Diamond Road got environmental clearance in 2008.
State highway funds would likely pay for those projects, but the county’s fuel revenue indexing money could be used, NDOT spokesman Tony Illia said.
In October, Malfabon said some freeway projects planned for Clark County might be delayed to accelerate the proposed improvements surrounding two potential stadium sites. The NDOT director did not address that issue Monday, and it was unclear whether any local projects might get pushed back.
“It takes a couple of years to go through that process typically, but we’re awaiting further developments on the stadium,” Malfabon said of the environmental clearances.
Financing for the $1.9 billion stadium was thrown into flux when the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson withdrew a pledge to contribute $650 million for the project. National Football League owners could decide next month whether the Raiders can move from Oakland to Las Vegas.
In North Las Vegas, construction was suspended in November on Faraday’s proposed $1 billion electric car factory at the Apex Industrial Park. Faraday executives said then that construction would resume in early 2017.
The news prompted Sandoval to question whether to delay a $70 million project that calls for the widening of U.S. Highway 93 for five miles, from Interstate 15 to Apex Power Parkway.
Proposals are due in April from construction companies interested in building the project, known as the Garnet interchange, with a contract to be awarded as soon as May, Malfabon said.
The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.
Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Find @AMarroquin_LV on Twitter.