Airport plans no cell phone lot

Ever since the Westcliff Airport Express line was introduced a week ago, several readers have asked questions about airport parking options.

Here is the latest: Airports throughout the country have cell phone lots where you can wait for passengers to get off the plane and call. Are there plans for a cell phone lot at McCarran International Airport?

Airport officials say it would be impractical to add a cell phone lot since the new parking arrangement was added earlier this year.

Spokesman Chris Jones said there is no convenient location for a cell phone lot and to add one would be too costly to build and then maintain.

Jones said the short-term garage in the passenger pick-up area serves a similar purpose.

Motorists picking up passengers can park in that garage for 15 minutes for free (although this grace period is not prominently advertised).

"Drivers who intend to wait just a short period of time before picking up arriving travelers are encouraged to use the airport's short-term garage, where they can park for up to 15 minutes at no cost," Jones said.

Here's the trick: If you park for less than 15 minutes, do not insert your ticket in one of the pay machines inside the garage; it will charge you $2. If you wait until you are exiting the garage and insert the ticket into the machine at the gate, you will not be charged.

And now onto roads...

Kevin asks: Why did the county spend so much money aligning Harmon Avenue at the Strip and building the Harmon bridge over 1-15? I thought it was to create another east-west thoroughfare, similar to Desert Inn. But Harmon does not go through to Decatur, so that was not the reason. Are they going to eventually connect Harmon to Decatur?

I can understand aligning Harmon with the Strip, to help traffic getting into the Cosmopolitan and maybe CityCenter. But I do not understand why they spent all that money building the bridge.

As most major road projects go, the Harmon Avenue project is large and expensive, which makes it difficult for Clark County to complete the arterial expeditiously.

In 2004, the bridge was built across Interstate 15, linking Polaris Avenue to Las Vegas Boulevard. And Kevin is right, the Harmon stretch on the east side of the freeway provides a back-door access to City Center.

There are plans to do more. The county plans to build six lanes on Harmon from Las Vegas Boulevard to Koval Lane to the east of the Strip, provide a Harmon crossing over the Flamingo Wash to complete the connection west all the way to Wynn Road. It also will make improvements on Harmon between Jones and Decatur boulevards.

As part of the project, which depends largely on how quickly the county can come up with the money, the project should be done within the next five years.

And a follow-up question: What are the plans for Valley View Boulevard? Will it ever become one continuous north-south street?

I'm glad you asked. Yes, during the same time period as the Harmon project, county officials will embark on improvements to Valley View, which will eventually convert the boulevard into the first continuous 10-mile-long north-south roadway west of the Interstate 15. Valley View will eventually stretch from Blue Diamond Road to Washington Avenue.

There will be three southbound lanes from Flamingo Road to Harmon and from Harmon to Tropicana. Northbound, there will be three lanes between Harmon and Flamingo and two lanes from Harmon to Tropicana.

And while we're on the topic of thoroughfares, David has this: I was curious, when does the Sunset overpass (over Interstate 15) open? How far west will Sunset go now?

The Sunset Road overpass is due to open toward the end of the second week of January, according to Sonja Ruffin with Las Vegas Paving. On the west side of the freeway, the new six-lane roadway reaches Valley View Boulevard.

When crews finish up the Sunset bridge, they will tear down the Warm Springs Road bridge and replace it with a new six-lane east-west arterial and bridge.

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call Adrienne Packer at (702) 387-2904, or send an e-mail to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com. Include your phone number.