State allocates $60 million for Project Neon road work

State officials allocated $60 million Monday for preliminary work on Project Neon, a massive construction project that will include improvements to Interstate 15 and the reopening of F Street into West Las Vegas.

The state Transportation Board approved an amendment to the Transportation Improvement Plan to implement the funding. It will be used for preliminary engineering work and purchasing right of way, said department spokesman Scott Magruder.

Project Neon, budgeted at $1.3 billion to $1.8 billion, includes work on I-15 between Spring Mountain Road and the Spaghetti Bowl and improvements to the Charleston Boulevard and Sahara Avenue interchanges.

F Street, which leads to a historically African-American neighborhood, was closed at the freeway during earlier construction, sparking protests that officials were trying to wall off the struggling neighborhood from downtown redevelopment.