By: Dayna Roselli
So many people write in over and over again, complaining about the Southern 215 & I-15 interchange congestion. They want to know "WHY" the county is not doing more to widening the road or fix the problem. I got an update from Clark County’s Public Works Spokesperson, Bobby Shelton recently. He gets this question all the time… so I asked him to break it all down for us!
Here’s what he had to say:
Since 1996, the county’s plan for the 215 was to get the initial facilities (the beltway’s footprint) in place so that the valley’s commuting public could use it as an alternate route around the valley’s urban core. The initial facilities were completed in 2003, and the county has been working since then to "build-out" the initial facilities to their full-freeway configurations.
As for the I-15/215 interchange, it works as it was designed to work. The bottleneck is actually caused by the fact that so many motorists are now using the 215 within this area, and the limited space available at the 215’s bridge structures near the Decatur Boulevard interchange as well as the railroad grade separation, which is just east of Decatur.
When these two bridge structures were initially constructed, the Federal Highway Administration only authorized and approved the construction of them for two travel lanes in each direction. Consequently, that was the way they were built.
Since October 2003, the county has worked to upgrade the initial facilities to the west of Decatur with the plan to widen the bridge structures once the county received approval from the FHWA. After upgrading our environmental assessment, which took nearly three years to complete, the county received authorization to widen the bridge structures. In fact, we just advertised this particular project (215 between Decatur to I-15) a couple of weeks ago. Once the bids are returned, open, a winning bidder selected, and the contract awarded by the Board of County Commissioners, the contractor will start on the project to widen the bridge structures. This project should be finished by the end of 2008 - - as long as no "bid" protest or other delays are encountered.
The county is also in the process to advertise at least four other projects for the 215. One for the improvements between Charleston Boulevard and Summerlin Parkway. Within the scope of work for this project the interchanges for Far Hills Avenue and Summerlin Parkway will be constructed. Within this contract, the county will also build the 215’s mainline travel lanes for the area of the beltway. Once this project is complete, beltway motorists will no longer have to use the intersections at Far Hills and Summerlin. They will be able to use the 215’s new travel lanes and travel under the newly constructed interchanges and avoid the traffic signals - - as the currently encounter now.
As a separate project, but being constructed during the same time frame as the one above, will be a project to construct the Lake Mead Boulevard interchange for this area of the 215. Both of these projects are slated to be finished by the end of 2009.
Additionally, two projects (Decatur to Hualapai Way and Hualapai to Charleston) will be advertised in the very near future to re-stripe this section of the 215 (Decatur to Charleston) to three travel lanes in each direction. The completion of these two projects is scheduled for the end of 2008 - - at the same time as the widening of the two bridge structures mentioned earlier.
The county’s 215 has been constructed via 1990 and 2002 Question 10 monies - - one percent of a person’s motor vehicle registration, and a portion of commercial/residential development tax. It has only been in recent years (last two or three) that the county has started working with the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada for additional funding. There are currently no FHWA funds involved with the Clark County 215 or Bruce Woodbury Beltway. Once we complete the "build-out" of the beltway, the county hopes to turn it over to the Nevada Department of Transportation for maintenance. However, until such a time, there are only county monies associated with the beltway.
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We’ll keep you updated on this project when it begins.
Hope this helps!
Posted by Dayna Roselli
