Studies to start for freeway improvements near Raiders stadium site

Environmental and engineering studies will soon begin for a pair of improvements aimed at relieving freeway traffic near the stadium site for the NFL’s Raiders.

The Nevada Department of Transportation’s board of directors on Monday awarded a $7.7 million contract allowing CA Group to spend the next two years examining the impacts of those freeway projects.

CA Group will also develop a construction schedule, with the freeway projects potentially starting in 2020, the same year that the Raiders are slated to kick off their first season at the 65,000-seat domed stadium.

“I don’t know if it’s premature or not in moving forward because the bonds haven’t been let for the stadium and the parking issue is still up in the air,” said Gov. Brian Sandoval, who serves as chairman of the NDOT board. “I have confidence that all that is going to, but I don’t want to see this go in one direction and have something happen.”

CA Group will complete environmental studies for a reconfiguration of the Tropicana Avenue interchange at Interstate 15, along with a separate project calls for building direct-access ramps that would connect a new carpool lane on I-15 to Harmon and Hacienda avenues.

John Terry, NDOT’s assistant director for engineering, said construction might not begin for another four or five years, with work expected to start on the carpool ramps before the Tropicana interchange gets rebuilt.

NDOT officials are considering whether to sell bonds to pay for those projects, estimated at $200 million. Investors would be repaid with money generated by a fuel revenue index tax Clark County voters approved last November.

The contract was approved nearly a year after the release of a report stating that NDOT would need to accelerate at least $899 million in Las Vegas freeway improvements to accommodate the stadium.

Restructuring the Tropicana interchange and building high-occupancy vehicle ramps for Hacienda and Harmon were included in a long list of high-priced improvements.

“This is work that has to be done, regardless of whether the stadium is going to be built or not,” Sandoval said. “I just don’t want us to do work that has to be undone.”

Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Find @AMarroquin_LV on Twitter.