Beltway expansion project starts
After months of delays because of legal wrangling, residents in the northwest valley finally will see progress on one of the last remaining unfinished portions of the Las Vegas Beltway, the stretch of Clark County Route 215 between Tenaya Way and Decatur Boulevard.
Heavy road equipment was transported to a staging area on Jones Boulevard last week, and Clark County officials expect construction to start on the
$117 million project in the next few days.
Las Vegas Paving, which won the contract, will be converting the seven miles of two-lane highway littered with traffic signals into a divided four-lane highway much like the Beltway -- also known as Interstate 215 -- to the west of the project area.
New interchanges will be built at Decatur and Jones boulevards, and a new bridge will carry Bradley Road over the freeway. Centennial Parkway will be extended to Jones, and a flood control channel will be built.
The project is expected to take 2½ years to complete.
"This project will be a significant improvement to traffic conditions on the northern Beltway," county spokesman Dan Kulin said.
The new highway will provide a nonstop commute from just east of Highway 95 to Losee Road, but when construction is complete, it will not mean the 52-mile Beltway is totally finished.
Traffic signals remain on the highway in the northwest, and the Nevada Department of Transportation must improve the interchanges at Interstate 215 and Highway 95 and at Interstate 215 and Interstate 15 near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The state agency is designing the interchanges but has no funding to build them.
The last significant portion of the northern Beltway work was delayed for more than a year after Clark County commissioners awarded the work to Las Vegas Paving, though Fisher Sand and Gravel's $112.2 million bid was $4.6 million lower. Fisher filed a federal lawsuit, alleging commissioners were biased toward union companies. Las Vegas Paving is a union company.
The dispute was finally settled over the summer when the county agreed to pay Fisher $5 million to walk away from the project. Las Vegas Paving was responsible for a portion of the settlement, and the rest will come from interest earned on the project funding that has been held in escrow since 2009.
Contact reporter Adrienne Packer at apacker@review journal.com or 702-387-2904.
