Express lanes

Las Vegas Valley drivers instinctively loathe the orange barrels that warn of road construction and the resulting lane restrictions and traffic congestion. Motorists will see a lot of them along the Interstate 15 resort corridor over the next year as the Nevada Department of Transportation adds express lanes between the southern Las Vegas Beltway and Sahara Avenue.

The work will turn one of Nevada's busiest stretches of highway into a gridlocked mess during peak traffic periods. The delays will test drivers' patience, just when they were getting comfortable with the improved traffic flow of the recently added fourth lane in each direction.

But the inconvenience will be worth the short-term misery. NDOT will use existing right of way to add the lanes at a cost of $21.5 million. When the project is done in late 2009, the freeway will have a fifth lane between the Beltway and Sahara for drivers who don't want to exit in between. The lanes will be segregated by barriers called "candlesticks" to contain lane changing.

"The true benefit will be that it eliminates weaving," NDOT Director Susan Martinovich said. And that will make driving a little easier and a little faster.

Speedsters shouldn't get the idea that they'll be entitled to drive 80 mph in the express lanes -- though the lanes will be the farthest left, there will be no restrictions on who can use them. That means big rigs, motorcycles and single-occupant vehicles will have to learn the value of sharing the lanes and not having anyone cut in front of them as they cruise past the Strip.

As the state tries to address a multibillion-dollar highway funding shortfall for the decade ahead, projects such as these will be a big part of the solution to the region's traffic problems. Massive widening projects, such as the recently completed expansion of U.S. Highway 95 west of downtown Las Vegas, might have to give way to cheaper jobs that maximize the use of space on and between divided freeways, through new paving and re-striping.

The orange barrels on I-15 are now a symbol of problem-solving and progress -- not just annoyance.