Construction woes abound

This week readers want to know when the construction on Centennial Parkway near Losee Road in North Las Vegas is going to be finished; and is the construction on Spencer Street, near Cactus Avenue, ever going to get done.

A reader asks: What is all the construction on Centennial Parkway between Losee Road and Camino Eldorado? The road is all dug up. It's impossible to get into the housing developments on the north side of Centennial. It doesn't seem like any progress is being made.

The work you are talking about is part of an almost $20 million flood channel project stretching about two miles on Centennial, from Lawrence Street to just past Revere Street.

The project, which requires digging ditches to build the underground flood channel, began about seven months ago and was expected to be finished at the beginning of summer this year.

"This type of project usually takes about 365 days," said Robert Rixford, senior engineer for the North Las Vegas Public Works Department.

But the project has experienced some delays because of bad weather in December, he said.

After heavy rains last month, which resulted in snow in other parts of the valley, water was trapped in the flood channel ditches, Rixford said. In some areas the water was as deep as six feet, he said.

"The water didn't evaporate. We had to pump it out," Rixford said.

But pumping water out of a two-mile long ditch takes time. And by the time it was finished, some of the rainwater had soaked into the ground, leaving layers of mud.

What was once good dirt to work with became useless. "It was turned into soup," he said.

"That delayed the project a month," Rixford said.

The project should be completed by mid- to late summer depending on if there are any more delays, he said.

Bill Thomas asks: I am concerned with the three-month stoppage of construction on Spencer, between Pyle and Cactus avenues, by Nevada Energy in front of the Tolleson Substation. The roadway was dug up and left about three months ago. On two occasions the small cones around the site have been blown over leaving the sand pit open to southbound traffic. Local residents have replaced the cones to prevent accidents. The remaining work entails final grading and asphalt. When is it going to be done? It is a small area but potentially dangerous to traffic.

I checked with Bobby Shelton, spokesman for the Clark County Public Works Department. He did some digging (factual) and discovered that some digging (actual) was still needed on this project.

Nevada Energy had recently built the substation in the area and was required by the county to make road improvements on Spencer.

When the contractor went to repave the road, a design flaw was discovered, Shelton said.

"Basically, the roadway's grades were not matching up; therefore, a re-design of the roadway had to be completed before the roadway could be repaved," he said.

Shelton said the county Development Services department recently approved the revised plans for the road.

All that's left to do is for the road to be paved, Shelton said. He expected that to be done within the next week or two depending on the weather.

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call Francis McCabe at (702) 387-2904, or send an e-mail to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com. Please include your phone number.