By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
There is relief on the horizon for area motorists forced to regularly brave the segment of Interstate 15 between Mesquite and Moapa Valley. NDOT officials say that the daytime and weekend lane reductions that have plagued that stretch of road throughout the summer are coming to an end within the next few weeks.
This construction project has been ongoing since March of this year. Lane closures on both sides of the highway have caused traffic snarls and sometimes even flat-out gridlock for months.
But NDOT spokesman Justin Hopkins said that better times are coming.
“On the northbound lanes we still have one more segment of the fiber optic cable installation,” Hopkins said. “So that has just started moving south and the last section will be starting around mile marker 109.”
Hopkins said that the final section should take another six to seven weeks ending toward the end of September. At that point the northbound lane restrictions will be done, he said.
For the southbound side, on the final approach to the top of the Mormon Mesa, crews are still working on about 1,000 feet of highway to fix a problem with drainage and erosion. That is another area of single lane closure which has caused problems.
“The crews are getting very close to being done there as well,” Hopkins said. “We should safely be done with that by the middle of September.”
At that point, all that will be left is to complete the resurfacing part of the project with new pavement, Hopkins said. Some of that has already been done in certain areas. But there are still significant areas yet to be completed.
“The good thing about that is that the only lane restrictions that we will have will be overnights on Mondays through Friday,” Hopkins said. “So during the days, all of the lanes will be open. And on the weekends, everything will be open 24/7; which will be great.”
NDOT expects substantial completion of the project by late November to early December.
“We are a little more than 50 percent of the way done with the total project,” Hopkins said. “But the last 50 percent should go much smoother than the first 50 percent because there won’t be those permanent or semi-permanent single lane closures.”
Hopkins encouraged members of the public to continue being patient with the ongoing project and its remaining traffic problems.
“We see a lot of folks out there who are not giving other drivers a lot of patience when it comes to merging at those lane closures,” Hopkins said. “That has unfortunately created some crashes that didn’t need to happen. Traffic can definitely be a headache. But it can be made much worse when people don’t give each other enough room or don’t merge properly.”
And exactly what does it mean to “merge properly?”
Hopkins said that the NDOT-recommended method is called “zipper-merging.” That is a technique where drivers should keep both of the travel lanes filled and maintain their lanes all the way up to the merge point. At that final moment of lane restriction, drivers from each lane should respectfully take turns proceeding into the single travel lane.
“We and other departments of transportation around the country recommend this as the most efficient way,” Hopkins said. “People who study these things say that using a zipper merge, and using all lanes of traffic for as long as possible, can increase traffic flow and efficiency by as much as 40 percent.”
The problem arises when drivers begin taking the law into their own hands and straddling lanes to ensure that no one can get ahead of them in line, Hopkins said.
“That just creates a feeling of frustration in other drivers and adds to the road rage that causes accidents and further delays,” he said.
