By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
Members of the Mesquite Chamber of Commerce got up dated on major road projects in the works throughout the southern Nevada region during the Chamber’s monthly luncheon event held Wednesday, Sept. 14.
In attendance at the meeting was Nevada Department of Transportation District 1 Engineer Mario Gomez. Gomez gave a featured presentation reviewing the details on various road projects; both ongoing and upcoming; all across southern Nevada.
Gomez began closest to home, discussing the ongoing I-15 project between Glendale and Mesquite. This $35 million project will resurface all of the interstate through the area. But in addition to that, the project includes upgrades to storm sewer systems and installation of “Intelligent Traffic Systems” (ITS) as well. ITS is a fiber optic cable line that will integrate this stretch of highway with the regional traffic signal system.
“We operate our signals out of a big hub location in Las Vegas,” Gomez said. “And we also look at our cameras for accidents and incidents to better respond to traffic needs.”
During a question and answer period, Mesa View Regional Hospital CEO Kelly Adams, asked about the timeframe for opening the restricted lanes on this project.
“With the traffic jams we’ve seen through that area, there have been some safety concerns in getting our patients to Las Vegas hospitals in a reasonable amount of time,” Adams said.
Gomez responded that the project was in the final stages of construction. He said that the crews are nearing completion on the ITS fiber line.
“They have maybe to the end of this month to continue that,” he said.
After that, crews would still have to resurface the pavement within the project limits, Gomez said. But that work would be done mainly overnight. So the more permanent concrete barriers would be removed and any further lane closures would be done with temporary barrels that could be removed during the daytime.
Gomez apologized for the extended period of the project.
“This project started out as a typical mill and pave kind of job,” Gomez said. “But because of a number of environmental changes that we have experienced recently, the project was already under construction and we had these new federal guidelines to deal with. We had to huddle up with the contractor and figure out how we were going to finish the job. I totally apologize for that.”
Another project discussed by Gomez at the meeting is also currently in process from Speedway Rd. to the U.S. Highway 93 near the Love’s Truck Stop. This $71.5 million project just recently started and will continue up until 2024. Gomez advised that a project website had been set up at i-15north.com where motorists can go to get additional information on this project.
Connected to this project is a new interchange underway at the nearby I-15 and the Clark County 215 connection.
“That project is to improve the mobility that is out there,” Gomez said. “We have had tremendous growth out there with the new industrial corridor and the commercial vehicles that come with it. So this new interchange will certainly improve things.”
Mesquite Fire Chief Jayson Andrus, also concerned about timing of emergency transport into Las Vegas, asked if there were plans to restrict traffic down to a single lane on this project.
“We have lessons learned from the project up here,” Gomez said. “We are trying to minimize the amount of impact that we have on that stretch of highway.”
Gomez talked about various other more distant projects that are planned for the region.
The ongoing progress on the new interchange in the northwest Las Vegas Valley at the 215 and Highway 95 is in its last phase and expected to be complete by 2023.
A new interchange at I-15 and Tropicana is being conducted as a design build project.
There are plans to replace the old 515 viaduct running just north of the downtown area.
Gomez also talked about a collaborative project between the states of Nevada and California to widen and improve the I-15 corridor on both sides of the stateline at Primm.
Gomez talked about the challenges given the current labor market of keeping enough staffing, both for NDOT and at its contractors. He talked about how NDOT had gone from having about $20 million for improvements, around 15 years ago, to now working with $101 million in projects.
“Of course, we are very happy with that because the more money we have to work with, the better it is for our traffic, our commuters and our citizens,” Gomez said.
But that huge infusion of cash for projects also brings significant challenges, he said. Especially given the current labor market.
“Us at NDOT, we are down 30 percent right now with vacancies,” Gomez said. “And I can only imagine what the contracting industry is facing as well. So we are really trying to keep up with the pace of things right now.”
