Public gets first peek at northwest US 95 improvement plan

Nevada Department of Transportation planners might have saved the best for last when it comes to improvements for the U.S. Highway 95 Northwest Corridor.

In a public meeting Wednesday, project engineers detailed the last phases of freeway corridor improvements that will include the widening of U.S. 95 from Durango Drive to Kyle Canyon Road, the construction of a high-occupancy-vehicle "drop ramp" at Elkhorn Road for easier access to a park-and-ride lot, and the design and construction of a new interchange at Kyle Canyon Road.

Construction won't begin on the projects until early 2017, but department engineers conducted the meeting so that residents and businesses of the area could comment on the plans before the final design begins.

The Kyle Canyon Road exit will be a diverging-diamond interchange — the third of its kind in the state — and include landscaping that will note the nearby Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument.

While Kyle Canyon Road won't access the new national monument, the freeway exit will feature illustrative aesthetic references to saber-tooth cat skulls, lion scratch marks, cat paw pads and bighorn sheep.

The diverging-diamond interchange that will be built below the highway road grade will be similar to the interchange atop the Horizon Drive overpass of U.S. 95 in Henderson. It features signalized crossings on the two ends of the exit to place traffic on the left side of the street. It's been proven to be safer than conventional interchanges because vehicles don't have to cross oncoming traffic on left turns, both entering and exiting the interchange.

Nevada's first diverging diamond was built on at the Moana Lane exit of Interstate 580 in Reno and the Horizon Drive modification was completed earlier this year. Engineers say diverging diamonds have reduced accidents by 46 percent nationwide where they have been built and construction costs less because the two traffic lights used are two-cycle signals instead of multiple-cycle signals. State officials didn't have details on how less costly the Kyle Canyon interchange will be as a result.

Engineers also provided an update on another section of the corridor, the Phase 3 "Centennial Bowl" interchange between U.S. 95 and the 215 Beltway.

Construction crews began work on the project in August. Because the project is slightly ahead of schedule, work is going to start impeding traffic at the site.

A ramp connecting northbound U.S. 95 with the eastbound Beltway is completely out of the way of existing roads so it won't affect traffic. But piers will soon be built to support a two-lane, 2,365-foot flyover ramp from the westbound Beltway to southbound U.S. 95. A distributor-collector road paralleling southbound U.S. 95 and the current Sky Pointe Drive access to the Beltway will soon be affected by construction as crews prepare the ramp leading to the flyover bridge and a Clark County Flood Control District drainage culvert.

Comments on the projects are being accepted through Nov. 20 and can be addressed to senior project manager Jenica Keller at jkeller2@dot.state.nv.us.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta.