2.5-mile stretch of southbound I-11 opens Tuesday
The first segment of southbound Interstate 11 will open at 5 a.m. Tuesday, running more than two miles between Railroad Pass hotel and U.S. Highway 95, the Nevada Department of Transportation said.
Drivers headed south on U.S. Highway 93 will be directed onto southbound I-11’s concrete lanes near the casino in Henderson, NDOT spokesman Tony Illia said.
From there, vehicles will get to use a new 600-foot-long flyover bridge that connects I-11 with the overlapping U.S. highways 93 and 95.
Motorists headed to the Railroad Pass hotel will have to pass their destination and turn around about a mile away at the interchange where U.S. 93 and U.S. 95 split, Illia said.
Drivers headed north on U.S. 93 won’t get to use I-11, but traffic lanes will be slightly shifted so that crews can complete the freeway.
Opening up the small segment marks a step toward completing the first leg of an international trade route that is expected to ease cross-border trade from the Mexico border to Canada by running through Arizona, Nevada and Idaho.
Construction of a 15-mile stretch of I-11 started in April 2015, with work split between the NDOT and the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada.
When completed, the four-lane highway is expected to reduce travel time up to 30 minutes between Henderson’s southern border and the O’Callaghan-Tillman Memorial Bridge downstream from Hoover Dam, all while looping past Boulder City.
Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Find @AMarroquin_LV on Twitter.
