By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
Representatives from the Nevada Department of Transportation held a public meeting in Overton last week to discuss plans to improve State Highway 169 coming into Logandale from Interstate 15. The $14 million construction project is expected to begin in March of 2023 and continue for about 10 months into January of 2024.
An audience of about 40 people attended the meeting which was held in the Overton Community Center on Wednesday evening, Nov. 15.
NDOT Project Manager Nanette Maxwell gave a presentation about the scope of the project and what improvements to the highway are planned.
She explained that the construction would take place on SR 169, otherwise known as Moapa Valley Blvd, between Canal Ave, just south of Moapa Valley Mortuary, all the way to the Logandale/Overton exit of I-15.
In the project, NDOT plans to flatten roadway slopes, provide wider shoulders, create a buffered bicycle lane and include a new northbound truck climbing lane. It would also include an expanded intersection at Waterline Road.
The proposed truck climbing lane on the northbound side will begin at Waterline Rd. and continue north one mile to the top of the hill. This would allow slower moving trucks to travel in the right lane with less disruption of normal highway traffic flow.
In the areas of the project where there is no truck climbing lane there will be a striped median between north and southbound sides. In no-passing zones, that median will be a four-foot separation. In passing zones, the median will decrease and the travel lane will increase from 12 to 14 feet wide to allow for better visuals in passing.
The design also includes a five foot bike lane on each side of the road with a 3 foot buffer between it and the travel lanes.
Where there are hillside slopes close to the side of the roadway, these will be excavated so allow for a broader shoulder. Materials from those excavations will be used to fill the downhill slope in the shoulder on the opposite side of the street. This will enhance safety if vehicles need to pull off the roadway on either side.
At the intersection of Waterline Road, new turn lanes will be added to accommodate truck traffic into the area on the west side of the highway. A dedicated northbound left turn lane will be added, as well as a right turn lane on the southbound side. In addition, an acceleration lane will be added on the northbound side to allow trucks turning left on the highway to get up to speed.
Maxwell said that the project would also include repavement of the entire surface, drainage improvements in the area and tortoise fencing on both sides for the entire length of the project.
The subject of the meeting then turned to the traffic impacts that local residents could expect. The project is not expecting any closures to the highway. But there could be up to a 30 minute delay in getting through the construction zone.
While construction work is ongoing, travel would be restricted to a one-way operation with a pilot car leading traffic through the area.
Construction work is expected to go on Mondays through Thursday from 6 am to 4 pm each day. Outside of those hours a single lane of travel will be available in both directions with no pilot car needed.
To close the meeting, the floor was opened to questions from the attendees.
Local resident Blake Monk expressed concerns about the project starting in March, just a couple of weeks before the Clark County Fair. He feared that traffic snarls would become a big problem during the Fair.
Monk was told that conversations had already been conducted with Las Vegas Paving, the contractor on the project, that crews would not be working on the project during the five days of the Fair.
Randall Ozaki asked if the Department had considered doing the construction work during night time hours when less traffic was on the road. But it was decided to keep it as a day-time project due to safety concerns as well as higher expenses paying union wages at night time.
A few residents in attendance were critical of the project. Greg Schwob stated that the whole thing seemed like “a solution in search of a problem.”
“I was never really that inconvenienced very often by large trucks going up that hill,” he said. “But if I were, I think I’d rather have that minor inconvenience than be subject to eight months of pilot cars and construction.”
Another attendee said that he had never seen bicyclists riding on that portion of the highway and questioned whether bike lanes were really needed.
But others were pleased with the plans. Overton resident Judy Metz acknowledged that there had not been a lot of cyclists riding that segment of road in the past two years.
“But prior to COVID we had bike races coming through all the time, and marathons and extreme runs and other events that helped our local economy,” Metz added. “I hope that those things return again. And this will encourage that.”
Overton resident Mendis Cooper said that he had lived all his life in Moapa Valley and had waited behind slow truck traffic often on the road going out of town. “I for one appreciate this project,” Cooper said. “And if I can make a suggestion, I also look forward to a time when we have turn lanes all through the valley on that highway.”
Additional information on the project can be found at dot.nv.gov/sr169.
