Public input sought on major highway project through downtown Vegas

If your daily commute includes driving through downtown Las Vegas and the Spaghetti Bowl and you have thoughts on how that experience can be improved, here’s your chance.

State transportation officials are accepting comments on the Downtown Access Project, which is set to be the most expensive public works project in Nevada’s history.

The project aimed at easing congestion on U.S. Highway 95 in downtown Las Vegas could cost as much as $3 billion, depending on which of the three alternatives the Nevada Department of Transportation selects.

Project Neon, which widened 3.7 miles of Interstate 15 from the Spaghetti Bowl to Sahara Avenue, is the most expensive public work project in the state’s history at $1 billion. Even the least expensive option for the Downtown Access Project would top that at $1.6 billion, and the most expensive option could triple it.

Residents have until Feb. 15 to submit comments and concerns to NDOT before it moves to finalize the plan for the heavily used freeway. The preferred alternative is expected to be known by the time the draft environmental impact study is published this summer.

The project’s scope runs from Rancho Drive to Mojave Road on U.S. 95 and involves removing the existing 1.6 miles of bridges and replacing them with either a recessed or elevated freeway. There are two elevated options and one below-grade option for Las Vegans to chime in on.

The three versions would all have one general purpose lane and one high occupancy vehicle lane in each direction, with two new HOV interchanges.

Also, the project will address the closely spaced ramps through downtown by adding a collector-distributor road alongside the freeway in both directions.

Improving bicycle and pedestrian mobility around the freeway and adding new landscape and aesthetics are also included in the upgrades. Additionally, up to four surface streets running underneath U.S. 95 downtown could be permanently closed depending on the option picked.

Each option will also see HOV lane intersections added at City and Maryland parkways.

All three options also would include constructing sound walls between Las Vegas Boulevard and Mojave.

How those upgrades will be carried out depends on which of the three options is chosen. Construction isn’t expected to start until 2027.

Option 1:

Cost: $3 billion; time to construct: five to seven years.

The version calling for a recessed highway would carry the largest price tag of the trio of options, largely because its below-grade feature makes it the most challenging to construct.

This option would see all bridges on the stretch demolished and the freeway reconstructed in a trench.

The mainline freeway portions of this option would be located in the center of the project’s scope, which includes the four mainline lanes and one HOV lane in each direction. Elevated on-ramps and offramps would be located on both sides of the main freeway between City Parkway and Bruce Street, with collector distributor roads flanking both outside portions of the freeway.

Ten historic properties downtown would be affected, with nine of those being displaced. Four surface streets would be permanently closed, including Eighth, 14th, 16th and 18th streets.

This option would also include new traffic movement for southbound traffic on Casino Center Boulevard south of U.S. 95.

Option 2:

Cost: $1.8 billion; time to construct: four to six years.

The second option would be similar to what is seen on U.S. 95 today, with the freeway built on a dirt embankment, with a northern alignment through the downtown corridor.

All portions of the road — mainline, HOV and collector distributor roads — would be at the same level, with the on-ramps and offramps beginning and ending below grade, as is the case now.

All bridges along the stretch would be demolished to allow for widening the freeway.

This option is noted to be less challenging to construct than Option 1 and would result in three surface streets being permanently closed — Eighth, 14th and 16th streets — instead of four.

Option 3:

Cost $1.6 billion; time to construct: four to six years.

The cheapest option would see all existing bridges demolished to build out the freeway to add capacity and would be at a similar elevation to what U.S. 95 is at today.

Option 3 would feature a southern alignment built on a dirt embankment and, as in Option 2, all the lanes of the freeway and the on-ramps and offramps would be the same level with the on-ramps and offramps beginning and ending below the freeway.

The southern layout of Option 2 would impact parking on portions of the Main Street Station parking garage, surface parking and the Zappos parking garage.

Residents can also opt to have nothing done with the freeway, which would lead to the same traffic impacts the area presents, as more people move to and more traffic is added to the Las Vegas Valley each year.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter. Send questions and comments to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com.