Unlike Arizona, Nevada well-stocked with aluminum for license plates

The Arizona Department of Transportation announced this month that production in license plates was interrupted due to a worldwide aluminum shortage.

Arizona Correctional Industries, which produces license plates for the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division, did not receive a scheduled delivery of aluminum and had none in stock for production as of last week.

Arizona’s Motor Vehicle Division is using another vendor on a temporary basis to allow operations to continue and noted the change resulted in a lag of plate deliveries.

“We regret that customers will experience this delay,” Arizona MVD Director Eric Jorgensen said in a statement. “When we learned that our primary vendor didn’t receive the aluminum it was expecting, MVD immediately implemented its backup plan with ITI (Intellectual Technology Inc.), a vendor we’ve worked with before, to ensure that plate production could begin as quickly as possible.”

In Nevada there is no such shortage.

“Our plate factory is in very good shape on aluminum stock,” said Kevin Malone, spokesman for the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles. “The Nevada DMV produces an average of 96,000 plates per month. We have enough stock on hand to produce about 622,000 plates.”

Malone said that is enough to last the DMV well into the winter months with a new order set for next month.

“We are not expecting any delays in plate manufacturing for the foreseeable future,” he said.

Plates were produced at a factory at Nevada State Prison, which closed in 2012, Malone said.

A $3.8 million, 9,000-square-foot plate factory opened in July 2015 at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City.

I-15 widening meeting

The Nevada Department of Transportation wants to hear from residents regarding the next phase of Interstate 15 widening near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

An 11-mile stretch of I-15 between Speedway Boulevard and U.S. Highway 93 is set to be widened as part of a $100 million project.

Residents can offer their thoughts on the project during a virtual meeting NDOT is hosting at www.I-15North.com. The meeting begins Thursday and runs through July 8.

Project plans include adding one additional travel lane in each direction along I-15, plus bridge widenings and repairs.

A truck parking lot at Apex Interchange and more truck parking along northbound I-15 between the Apex Summit and Garnet interchanges are also in the plans.

The design includes landscaping and aesthetic interchange enhancements and drainage improvements throughout the corridor.

“Project benefits include improved safety, travel time, operations and access to areas planned for development in North Las Vegas,” said Tony Illia, NDOT spokesman. “Construction is currently anticipated to begin during the first quarter of 2022 with expected completion by fourth quarter 2023.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers @reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.