Fifth Street on way to becoming Bridge to Somewhere

There’s a Bridge to Nowhere in North Las Vegas today, but if all goes according to plan, it’ll become a Bridge to Somewhere by mid-2016.

We’ve seen it there for a couple of years now but many of us forgot about it until recently when several Warrior readers made inquiries about the workers with paving equipment who recently came out to work on North Fifth Street.

When everything’s all done maybe a decade from now, Fifth Street is going to be quite the transportation corridor.

Extending from the 215 Beltway on the north end south into downtown North Las Vegas, the corridor is envisioned to carry not only four to six lanes of traffic along its length but also whatever favored mass transportation mode emerges in our valley.

Fifth Street has a completed freeway interchange on the Beltway and accommodates traffic from a large shopping center that is home to Target, Home Depot, PetsMart, Toys R Us, Staples and Kohl’s on the north end.

South of the shopping center, Fifth borders the aromatic RC Farms pig farm.

Fifth Street has the distinction of being an arterial that links three North Las Vegas high schools: Legacy, Mohave and Canyon Springs.

Farther south, Fifth borders North Las Vegas’s lighted nine-hole par 3 golf course. After Fifth passes over Interstate 15 it flows into a redesigned roundabout near the heart of downtown North Las Vegas at Las Vegas Boulevard North.

When completed post-2025, millions of dollars later, Fifth would have six lanes of traffic, including a bus lane, pedestrian walkways and landscaping from the Beltway to the city’s downtown.

For now, the most visible piece of Fifth Street is that beautiful bridge that spans I-15 just north of the Carey Avenue overpass between I-15’s Lake Mead Boulevard and Cheyenne Avenue exits.

The bridge has been gathering graffiti for more than a year after crews built the overpass, sometimes disrupting I-15 traffic to get it done.

The southern end of the bridge intersects with Carey Avenue but the northern end is elevated concrete near a commercial section of Losee Road. It’s going to stay that way for a while.

People who frequently use Fifth Street in their daily commutes got a little excited last week when some construction crews arrived.

Just north and south of Craig Road, work is underway on Fifth.

Jennifer Doody, deputy director of public works for the city of North Las Vegas, said the work that is being undertaken now — paid for with fuel revenue indexing money — will widen Fifth and solve a “sawtooth” problem.

North Las Vegas is using a good chunk of its indexing money to eliminate road sawtooth issues throughout the city. Those are the annoying ribbons of road that go from one lane to three lanes to two lanes to one lane, etc.

Sawtooth problems occur when lots adjacent to those streets remain undeveloped.

This $2.3 million sawtooth fix on Fifth will be finished within weeks and will assure at least four lanes of Fifth between Alexander Road and Centennial Parkway.

Included in the fix will be a dangerous section of Fifth at Alexander where northbound traffic narrows to one lane and unsuspecting motorists turn a dedicated left-turn lane at Alexander into a through lane, often cutting off motorists in the right lane.

Doody said some utility relocations and demolition work will be underway at the Bridge to Nowhere next year. The work will entail extending Fifth north over Losee Road, landing at grade level somewhere between Brooks and Cheyenne avenues.

Right now, there’s no money identified to complete the project, but Doody is determined to see it completed before she ends her North Las Vegas career.

“What we need,” she said, “is an infinite pool of money.”

I’m sure traffic engineers across Southern Nevada would love to have the same thing.

Wet ‘n’ Wild Light

In the summer, Clark County officials made Fort Apache Road near the Wet ’n’ Wild waterpark a safety priority, promising to install two traffic lights to provide signalized pedestrian crosswalks for the park and for students attending nearby Faiss Middle School as well as to ease water park traffic.

Officials delivered a signal at Fort Apache and Maule Avenue in the summer. Last week, they completed the commitment, turning on a new signal at Fort Apache and Warm Springs Road.

Like the North Las Vegas road projects, the county used fuel revenue indexing dollars to pay for the new signals.

There’s also a new traffic signal at Centennial and Grand Montecito parkways in the northwest valley near U.S. Highway 95 and the Beltway.

HEAVY TRAFFIC

Now that the UNLV basketball season has begun, expect the usual traffic jams around the Thomas &Mack Center just before tipoff and at game’s end. There’s a 7:30 p.m., start Friday and a 5 p.m. tip Sunday, Nov. 16. Games normally run about an hour and a half.

You’ll also see more traffic than usual this Sunday on I-15 north of town near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Day 2 of Aviation Nation, Nellis Air Force Base’s big air show.

Detours will be in effect in downtown Las Vegas along the traditional Fourth Street parade route Tuesday morning for the annual Veterans Day parade.

There are no major conventions in town this week.

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