By: Dayna Roselli
I covered a “What’s Driving You Crazy” question today that has everyone talking! Someone asked me when the new Lake Mead & 215 interchange is going to open. Well, I found out, it will be done in about 2 weeks…. but, it won’t open.
There is a verbal agreement between Public Works, the County Commissioners, the city of Las Vegas, and Sun City residents. The county says it was agreed that the interchange would stay closed until the Summerlin Parkway interchange opens in 2010. Sun City residents were very vocal about this. This was decided about 10 years ago during public meetings about this project.
Unless the county hears otherwise, the interchange will sit there…. finished… for two years.
Click here to view a story by our neighborhood guide reporter.
What do you think?
I’m sure there are two sides here. I am curious to hear both sides!
I wouldn’t care if the Lake Mead/I-215 interchange NEVER opened. The traffic on Lake Mead from Rampart to the 215 is so bad right now that it will only get WORSE as soon as that interchange is opened.
Comment by Donna — July 29, 2008 @ 4:14 pm
Prey, tell… WHY were the “Sun City Residents” so vehemently opposed to Lake Mead opening prior to Summerlin Parkway? Knowing their reasons for wanting to deny the public access to a complete and convenient thoroughfare for two years would assist me in forming my opinion.
Comment by James — July 29, 2008 @ 5:15 pm
I believe they do not want all the traffic skipping over the Summerlin Parkway while it’s under construction and filtering off the Lake Mead interchange… thus causing traffic congestion in their neighborhood.
Comment by Dayna Roselli — July 29, 2008 @ 6:09 pm
First they don’t want the planes flying overhead, now they don’t want cars going down their streets. Get over it people. Just because you are retired and have nothing better to do all day than complain to the city and county politicians, us working stiffs need easier quicker ways to get to and from work!
Comment by Charles — July 31, 2008 @ 9:47 pm
Okay, I’ve refrained from posting for a few days to see what some others have to say, (and I really like Charles’ post by the way) and I just can’t think of one good reason this group of malcontents are getting their way. I can’t think of any other situation where this “logic” would apply. We don’t build shopping plazas only to leave them sit idle because the extra traffic would be burdensome to neighboring residents who are used to having a nice quiet desert lot where the Costco/Wal-Mart/Best Buy is now. People don’t buy a new car and let it sit in their garage because it might get dirty or scratched by using it. And I’m pretty sure they’re going to open City Center when it’s finished even though the ‘fly-over’ to it from I-15 won’t be done for a while and the extra traffic it causes will make the strip nearly impossible to use at times.
I want to know what kind of political sway this community holds and how it got it. We all know traffic here is a nightmare and the beltway is -in not a small way- going to help out, how did one small community manage to make our local government make such an ABSURD decision that will affect people from across the entire valley?
Comment by James — August 2, 2008 @ 2:22 am
And then there are those of us that live in Pahrump, Beatty, Tocopa and Death valley that HAVE to come into Vegas for numerious reasons. We either have to go way North and then work our way back South or get off way South and work our way North on side streets. Believe me, after driving for an hour or more it is very frustrating to do this. I realize we do not number in the hundreds of thousands but we too support the businesses in Vegas.
Joyce
Comment by Joyce L. — August 3, 2008 @ 11:10 am
The tax payer base of Nevada paid for this road project didn’t they? The road should be open to all.
Comment by Glenn Chaves — August 4, 2008 @ 6:54 am
Hey!! Good Point Glenn!!! Money talks, right?
Comment by James — August 5, 2008 @ 8:43 pm
I agree. It should open. My husband and I thought that it would open soon because of all the traffic that is being congested at 215/Summerlin Pkwy. Guess we were wrong huh! I drive through Lake Mead and Rampart, heading west on Lake Mead all the time. There is hardly ANY traffic.
With the opening of the Lake Mead interchange, it would ease a lot of frustration with the construction of Summerlin Pkwy. That is why there are “detours” but now we can’t have one just because Sun City is complaining. Give me a break. Shouldn’t everyone be able to decide what goes on, not just Sun City?
A lot of Sun City complains about some of the dumbest things. Just the other day Eye witness news showed an old lady complaining about the trees being to big in “their” golf corse? What did she think it wasn’t going to grow?
I agree with James totally! Why build something when it can’t be used for 2 years (or a year and a half). Did the ALL the tax payers pay for this? Why does ONE community get to decide it’s fate? Plus it was built wasn’t it? They allowed it to be built!!! So what, they want to be the only ones to use it once Summelin Pkwy is complete? What a pain!
Comment by Adema — August 7, 2008 @ 11:36 am
Delaying the Lake Mead interchange opening by two years is an abuse of taxpayer’s funding. We paid for the project, it’s complete, now open it for public use. If the delay is allowed, the responsible politians should not be re-elected to office.
Comment by Eric Johnson — August 19, 2008 @ 6:14 am