Tropicana bridge over I-15 to reopen with new lane configuration

When the Tropicana Avenue bridge over Interstate 15 reopens Tuesday morning, a diverging diamond interchange lane system will be back in place.

Ahead of the Super Bowl, the DDI that was in place for a year was temporarily removed, and a standard lane setup was put in place to ensure transportation between the resort corridor and Allegiant Stadium was smooth.

Following the big game, crews shut down Tropicana over I-15 for six days to remove the Super Bowl lane configuration and return the DDI, this time on the recently finished north half of the bridge.

The south half of the bridge where the initial DDI was in place since February 2023 was torn down over the weekend as part of Dropicana 2.0. That included the full closure last weekend of I-15 in both directions between Flamingo and Russell roads.

When Tropicana reopens Tuesday morning, the I-15 southbound off-ramp to Tropicana, both east and westbound, and the Tropicana eastbound and westbound on-ramp to I-15 northbound will be open to traffic, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation.

The Tropicana east-and-westbound on-ramp to I-15 southbound, the I-15 northbound off-ramp to Tropicana, the I-15 southbound flyover ramp to Tropicana eastbound, and I-15 northbound access to Arena Drive all will be closed to traffic.

All of the work is tied to the larger $305 million I-15-Tropicana project, which began in 2022 and is scheduled to wrap up in 2025.

Work on the south side of the Tropicana bridge kicks off phase 3 of the four-phase project. Phase 3 is expected to last through the fall, when phase 4 will begin.

Once the south half of the Tropicana bridge is rebuilt, the stretch will be widened from three lanes to four in both directions between Las Vegas Boulevard and Polaris Avenue. The project also includes the reconstruction of the flyover ramp from I-15 southbound to Tropicana eastbound.

The sidewalks on Tropicana along the stretch will be widened to 10 feet, with improvements planned for the I-15 on-ramps and off-ramps at Tropicana. The I-15 exit to Frank Sinatra Drive, which leads to T-Mobile Arena, will be widened to two lanes.

As part of the final phase of work, Dean Martin Drive will be realigned under Tropicana to increase traffic flow when that portion of the project is completed next year.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.