I-15 lane reduction initiated

The mighty headache that was to be Tuesday morning's commute after southbound Interstate 15, north of the Spaghetti Bowl, was reduced to two lanes, didn't turn out to be a migraine.

Transportation officials were pleased with traffic flow.

"I think we had good cooperation from the motoring public," said Bob McKenzie, spokesman for the Nevada Department of Transportation.

Traffic was still heavy during the morning and evening rush hours but not the stop and go flow that some had feared.

One observer of I-15 traffic said he's seen worse.

Dred Clayton, a homeless man who sleeps near Owens Avenue and A Street, said the traffic had been moving at a decent clip all day.

The 60-year-old and other homeless have been forced to relocate in recent weeks as construction crews have cleared away brush from the sides of the freeway.

"They (transportation workers) kick you out every morning," Clayton said, adding they are nicer about it than some members of law enforcement.

Tracy Bower, spokeswoman for the Regional Transportation Commission, said there was "some bunching on the freeway," but it appeared many motorists chose to use Las Vegas Boulevard for their commutes.

Officials had asked drivers to consider using the surface streets, including Pecos Road and Lamb and Decatur boulevards, for their commutes.

The Freeway and Arterial System of Transportation, or FAST, retimed traffic signals on many of the main north-south roads to help move the increased traffic. FAST oversees the timing of traffic lights and monitors traffic flow for the Regional Transportation Commission.

Bower said FAST officials will continue to watch the surface streets and, as drivers use different routes, make traffic signal adjustments during the course of the project.

Bower continued to encourage commuters to carpool or take alternate forms of transit. The fewer vehicles on the roads, the less congestion there will be.

The $240 million project will widen I-15 from six to 10 lanes from the Spaghetti Bowl to Lake Mead Boulevard and from four and five lanes to eight lanes from Lake Mead to Craig Road.

This portion of I-15 was built in the 1960s, and little has been done to improve it since then, though traffic on it has grown to more than 170,000 vehicles a day.

But as easily as commuters adapted to the changes on Tuesday, more will come. And they will pose greater challenges, McKenzie said.

"It's going to be a continuing thing," he said. The project began in November and is expected to be finished by fall 2010.

Officials believe the real test will be Monday's commute. Beginning Friday night, a number of onramps and offramps near the Spaghetti Bowl will be closed, including the north and south onramps to I-15 north from U.S. Highway 95, as well as the onramp from Martin Luther King Boulevard.

The D Street and Washington Avenue offramp from I-15 northbound also will be closed beginning Friday.

Those closures will be in place until August 2009.

In the next few weeks, Washington beneath I-15 will be closed in both directions from 9 p.m. July 25 to 5 a.m. July 28 as workers demolish part of the overpass. D Street at I-15 will be closed in each direction, from 9 p.m. July 29 to 5 a.m. Aug. 1, for bridge demolition.

Bonanza Road near the Hancock Petroleum area will have lane restrictions in each direction from 5 a.m. Aug. 4 to Aug. 8 and will be closed in each direction from 9 p.m. Aug. 8 through Aug. 15.

"People are going to have gauge the amount of traffic on I-15 and then decide if it would be better to take alternate routes," McKenzie said.

Bower said commuters should exercise patience and allow extra time for traveling as more and more drivers are expected to use surface streets in the coming weeks.

Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904.