I-15 closures will affect downtown Las Vegas traffic on Wednesday

Getting in and out of downtown Las Vegas will be a little tricky Wednesday night.

Southbound Interstate 15 will be closed between Washington Avenue and U.S. Highway 95 from 10 p.m. Wednesday to 5 a.m. Thursday as crews install digital signs that will flash information about accidents and detours, the Nevada Department of Transportation said.

Additionally, several freeway ramps will close from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday including:

■ The U.S. 95 offramps to Martin Luther King Boulevard

■ The northbound I-15 offramp to Martin Luther King Boulevard

■ The Washington Avenue/D Street onramp to southbound I-15.

A segment of Martin Luther King Boulevard running beneath U.S. 95 will also close from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday, NDOT spokesman Tony Illia said.

The active traffic management signs are being installed as part of the $1 billion Project Neon, a 3.7-mile-long widening of I-15 from the U.S. 95 interchange to Sahara Avenue.

The first full-color digital sign along northbound U.S. 95 will go online by the end of the year, warning commuters to slow down as they approach ongoing construction through the Spaghetti Bowl, Illia said.

The system boasts a network of sensors lining the freeway that will detect heavy congestion, car crashes, bad weather and other conditions that could affect traffic. That real-time information is immediately relayed to digital signs that will lower the speed limit.

The signs are expected to reduce accidents and stop-and-go traffic for the 300,000 vehicles that travel daily through Nevada’s busiest freeway interchange.

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