Click image for enlargement. Graphic by Mike Johnson.

Soon it will be the northern valley's turn to have its portion of the Las Vegas Beltway converted from rural highway to urban freeway, according to a road improvement plan to be publicly unveiled Wednesday.

That's when Clark County officials will hold a public information meeting outlining plans to double the number of lanes, add overpasses and interchanges, erect sound walls and make other fixes to a Beltway stretch roughly between U.S. Highway 95 and Aviary Way/Allen Lane, starting later this year.

The meeting is from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Joe Neal Elementary School, 6651 Azure Drive.

"The public is encouraged to provide any comments," Tammy McMahan, a public information specialist with the county's public works department, said Monday. "We'd particularly like to hear from adjacent property owners."

The $121 million project calls for doubling the number of traffic lanes in each direction to four lanes from two lanes; eliminating intersections and building freeway-type interchanges at Jones Boulevard and Decatur Boulevard; and building auxiliary lanes between Jones and Decatur to carry ramp traffic.

Also, engineers plan to build a freeway overpass at Bradley Road, between Jones and Decatur, add sound walls at various locations between U.S. 95 and Aviary; and install new lighting and drainage infrastructure.

Work on the Beltway began in 1993 and is being done in two phases.

The $875 million first phase, completed in 2003, created a 53-mile so-called "interim facility" laced with stoplights, intersections and speed limits mostly around 45 mph.

Now under way is $800 million in work to add onramps, overpasses, medians and more lanes to allow 55 mph to 65 mph speeds and nonstop traffic through the entire Beltway by 2013.

So far, the most heavily-used Beltway sections in the southern and western Las Vegas Valley have undergone the latter upgrades, resulting in a freeway-type road from Henderson to Summerlin.

Now, those retrofits are beginning to take place in the more sparsely-traveled northern valley.

"This is the continuing building-out of the Beltway," McMahan said.

The two-phase plan was intended to get some sort of a usable road in place along the Beltway's path as quickly as possible, and to provide immediate traffic relief on other congested highways such as U.S. 95 and Interstate 15.

Work on the northwest section in question is expected to start this fall, with completion in the summer of 2009. This week's meeting is among the public's last chances to influence the final plan for that Beltway segment.

"This would be the prime time to get in their concerns," McMahan said.

Comments also will be accepted until 5 p.m. April 13 in writing by mail to Clark County Public Works, Beltway Comments, P.O. Box 554000, Las Vegas, NV 89155-4000, or by e-mail to tdmc@co.clark.nv.us.

General project information also is available by calling McMahan at 455-2097, and project materials are on public display between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays through April 13 at the County Government Center's second floor lobby at 500 S. Grand Central Parkway.