Maryland Parkway bus rapid transit project passes 1-year mark

Work on the $378 million Maryland Parkway bus rapid transit project rolls on across multiple portions of the Las Vegas Valley.

Crews are just over one year into the project, with orange cones lining portions of Maryland Parkway and surrounding roads from Russell Road near Harry Reid International Airport into downtown Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Medical District.

“If you were to take a drive from the south end that starts at Russell Road and come toward downtown Las Vegas, you’ll see a barrage of orange cones, and they’re there for a reason,” said Brij Gulati, director of capital projects for the Regional Transportation Commission. “The overall corridor has been split into 11 construction segments.”

What’s occurring?

Major work that has already been done to date has been mainly subsurface utilities.

“So, most people don’t see it; they just see the cones,” Gulati said.

Work that is occurring now includes expanding sidewalks, adding curb gutters, upgrading water and sewer lines, installing conduits for electrical connections and adding medians in some of the roads included in the project’s 12.5-mile scope.

“There weren’t medians (before), they were just pavement,” Gulati said. “We’re adding these medians to improve safety along the corridor,” Gulati said.

Crews have also added some of the early structures of 44 new enhanced bus shelters for the route. The new shelters won’t be finished until the project nears completion in the fall of 2026, to prevent vandalism, Gulati said.

“For Maryland Parkway, we are putting unique shelters that are much larger in scope,” he said. “A lot more seating, a lot more lighting and shade. They are branding to Maryland Parkway bus rapid transit.”

What’s to come?

So far, 19 of the new bus shelters’ main structures have been installed.

New LED street lights will be added to replace all of the current lighting along the route, and traffic signals will be upgraded at various intersections.

The project will also add shared bus and bike lanes, wider sidewalks and enhanced bus shelters. Maryland Parkway BRT will use a fleet of 60 electric buses that will run more frequently than the current Route 109.

Bus rapid transit was picked in 2019 over a more costly light rail option, which would have cost over $1 billion, and a cheaper $29 million simple upgrade of the route. Las Vegas Paving is the contractor on the Maryland Parkway BRT project.

Collaboration key

RTC is collaborating with the city of Las Vegas and Clark County; the project runs through both jurisdictions. RTC is also working with the Las Vegas Valley Water District, so the utility can carry out needed improvements along with the project now rather than go back and tear up the same stretches of roads in the future.

“Collaboration is a must, not only on this project,” Gulati said. “We don’t want to cause undue stress on the traveling public,” Gulati said. “Once we get our work done we don’t want some other contractor coming in and … putting up those orange cones again.”

Work to relocate power lines along the east side of Maryland Parkway underground also continues as part of efforts to beautify the area as the new bus system comes online.

The undergrounding was supposed to be completed this past spring, but delays have stretched out that work. It is expected to wrap up in the next month, Gulati said.

“We’ve been working with them concurrently so delays don’t occur to our project and to minimize the disruption to the traveling public, as well,” Gulati said. “Our contractor is already working half of that segment now, and they’ll be in full force come November.”

Paving work next year

Once utility work winds down, paving work can begin, which is scheduled to start around the second quarter of 2026. That includes crews painting the planned shared bus/bike lanes red, so all road users can easily identify them.

Motorists can stay up to date on the latest work and traffic implications tied to the project at marylandparkway.com.

“We want to thank the community because going through construction is not easy; there’s always challenges,” Gulati said. “Sometimes our buses even run late from being stuck in traffic. So were thankful that the community has given us grace during the construction time period. … Maryland Parkway isn’t as busy, and that’s partly because of people being cognizant of this work on Maryland Parkway.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X. Send questions and comments to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com.