Project NEON, a $1.5 billion, multi-phase, multi-year undertaking, is being touted as the most ambitious highway-improvement venture in Nevada history.
It’s what’s called a "capacity" project, meaning that its goals are long-term, addressing issues that Las Vegans (like you and us) will face in 2030 and beyond.
The plan is to widen Interstate 15 between Sahara Avenue and the Spaghetti Bowl (the interchange of I-15 and US 95 in downtown Las Vegas). Today, this is the most heavily trafficked corridor in the state. Every day, upwards of 270,000 people (roughly 10% of the state’s entire population) use this 3.7-mile stretch of freeway, with 25,000 lane changes and an average of four auto accidents (more than 1,200 annually). The use number is expected to double in the next 15 years, but Project NEON is anticipated to reduce travel time by nearly 25%, lane changes by nearly 40%, and crashes by 30%.
How? First, Project NEON will build a one-mile four-lane flyover ramp for high-occupancy vehicles (HOV) traveling on northbound I-15 to northbound US 95 and southbound US 95 to southbound I-15; developing a network of HOV lanes throughout the valley is one of the driving forces behind the project.
In addition, the Charleston/I-15 interchange and ramp will be reconstructed; merging high-speed traffic tends to bottleneck and be somewhat dangerous here. Four bridge structures within the Spaghetti Bowl interchange will also be replaced: the I-15 bridge over US 95; the I-15 bridge over the Martin Luther King exit ramp off I-15; an I-15 bridge over a train spur; and the US 95 bridge over Martin Luther King Boulevard. This will necessitate closing some ramps in the interchange temporarily and shifting traffic to the opposite side of the highway for a period, making us wonder about the state’s insistence that three lanes in each direction will remain accessible at all times.
The Nevada Department of Transportation is currently in the process of buying up 200 parcels of property for the right-of-way of the new interchange. Then financing and engineering will be wrapped up and the first signs of construction will appear around this time next year or shortly after the beginning of 2016.
The first $750 million phase of the project should be completed within three years. Gulp. Future phases are expected to continue for another 15 or so years. Yikes.
Those plans include extending the HOV lanes on US 95 from the 215 Beltway to the Silverado Ranch Road exit of I-15. Project NEON will convert the existing express lanes on I-15 into one HOV lane and one general-purpose lane.
Eventually, the HOV lanes on I-15 will run from Lake Mead Boulevard to St. Rose Parkway; on US 95 from the Beltway to Interstate 215; on the entire length of I-215; and on the Beltway from Summerlin Parkway to I-215.
On US 95 from Summerlin Parkway to I-15 and I-215 to the McCarran International Airport connector, the plan is for two HOV lanes in each direction and dedicated direct-access exits for HOV traffic to surface streets at 11 locations around Las Vegas Valley. That plan, again, is at least 15 years away; presumably, there will be dormant periods between phases to reduce "commuter dread" and "traffic fatigue."
