MVTAB votes to rename roads for Airport Rd. reroute

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board (MVTAB) approved a number of name changes to roads in the area just west of Perkins Field Airport last week. It was claimed the changes were needed to prepare for a major reroute of Airport Road through that area.

The project is essentially the same as was submitted to the MVTAB in late 2020. The plans show a change to the old Airport Road which has historically run only about 60 feet from the airport taxi-way. The airport fence would also be moved further west to the edge of the airport property to allow a buffer between the roadway and the airport runway and taxi-way.

“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has determined that the existing (road) does not comply with FAA guidelines and they will not allow airport improvements unless Airport Road is relocated outside of the Taxiway Object Free Area,” said Raul Valdez of Clark County Department of Aviation in a presentation to the MVTAB.

And the County does have plans for major improvements at the airport, Valdez said. These include a full rehabilitation and repaving of both the runway and the taxiway.

“All of these improvements are intended to improve the safety for both the public and Perkins Field users,” Valdez said.

Valdez laid out the revised timeline for the project. He explained that bids for the project had already been opened in April.

They expect to accept a bid and issue a Notice to Proceed by July with construction slated to start in August. Construction would then be completed around June of 2023, he said.

According to the maps presented at the meeting, the old Airport Road would be replaced by a zig-zag route across the open desert property just west of the airport. Altogether the new route would add up to about 1.4 miles of newly paved 29-foot-wide county roads.

The plans indicated that Cooper Street, near its intersection with Lee Ave. would change names to “Airport Road” which would continue only about 700 feet to the gate of the airport. From there a small segment now called Anita Road would be renamed to Ramos Ranch Road. A 90 degree turn to the west there would lead back to Cooper Street which would run north to just past the airport hangars at a new intersection with Cottonwood Ave. Turning west from there would lead to another turn to the north at a newly paved street which will also be named Cooper. This would lead to a slight jog on Anderson Street for about 1/8 mile. Then a left turn on a newly paved Anthon Avenue for 1/8 mile. At that point, a right turn would be taken onto the Lou Street alignment, which will also be paved to the end of the runway where it will join the existing Lou Street.  (To see map of the route CLICK HERE).

The other minor road name change would be to rename a small unpaved right of way segment just north of Lee Ave. as Cooper Street. This would not be included in the roads receiving pavement.

Jason Rebich, a resident of that area, asked why that last segment of Cooper Street alignment wasn’t just paved and incorporated into the route in order to alleviate the initial zig-zag to the airport and then away from it again.

“It doesn’t make any logical sense to do it that way,” Rebich said.

Valdez explained that various entities had been asked for input on the route through the area. “I believe there was feedback from the Metropolitan Police Department,” Valdez said. “That was the recommended route that was identified and selected by various departments.”

Another neighborhood resident, Jim Reilly asked what the speed limit would be on the new network of roads. Valdez responded that it would drop to 25 mph from the existing 35 mph.

Logandale resident Chandler Whipple was also concerned about the zig-zagging of routes and the difficulty in navigating it. Whipple operates an aggregate pit on the east side of the mesa and uses the Airport Road route to access it with dump trucks and other equipment. He asked if every corner throughout the route would have a stop sign.

Valdez confirmed that there would be stop signs at intersections and reduced speed limits at curves in the roads bringing those segments down to 15 mph.

“But everything will be marked in accordance with the Public Works standards,” Valdez said.

“So it is going to make this into just a huge pain to travel through there?” Whipple asked.

Valdez did not respond to that question.

MVTAB members had very little input to the plan. Board member Brian Burris asked if the bids had already been opened. Valdez said that they had.

Burris said that he didn’t necessarily have any issue with the street name changes before the board. But he acknowledged a major concern among local residents about the complication to travel patterns through the area.

“Unfortunately, it sounds like it has already been set,” Burris said. “It is already done with engineering and kind of into the approval process now. So the only thing really on the table right now is whether we change the names of roads.”

Burris made a motion to accept the name changes as noted in the agenda. The board approved the motion with a unanimous vote.