By Vernon Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

Construction on a new bridge at the Cooper Street crossing in Overton is expected to begin as early as the first quarter of next year. The bridge, which is the first phase in the Moapa Valley Flood Control project is expected to take 9 months to a year to build at a cost of $10 million, according to Clark County Flood Control District engineer John Catonese who reported to the Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board last week.

At the board meeting, Catonese sought guidance from the community on whether a bypass road ought to be built to allow continued use of Cooper St. during construction.

“I’d like to hear from you what would be the impact of closing Cooper for 6-12 months,” Catonese said. “Should we just close the road or build the bypass?

The bypass would be a gravel road that breaks off from Cooper on either side of the river and would cross over a temporary culvert to be placed just downstream from the current crossing, just to the east of the current road. The cost of building the temporary bypass would be $115,000, Catonese explained.

“That part of the project is already budgeted in, so funding is available,” Catonese said. “It is just a question of how important it is to keep that road open.”

MVTAB Chairwoman Judy Metz urged that the bypass road be built.

“The public safety issues would be huge,” Metz said. “If an issue came up out in the dump estates area and rescue and fire units were called in, having them go all the way around would be 15-20 minutes extra in the response time.”

“From a construction point of view, shutting down the traffic flow would speed up the project and make things run smoothly,” said MVTAB member Gene Houston. “And I’m sure if you talk to the neighbors they would say shut it down. But I can also see what Judy is saying about safety issues.”

Metz made a motion to recommend that the bypass road be built. It was approved unanimously.