Why Wasn't the Tropicana and I-15 Project Done Earlier?

My Question of the Day has to do with the hugely disruptive closure of Tropicana Avenue and its freeway offramps and onramps. Why is this work necessary? What improvement is being made? Why is the construction so poorly timed? It seems that the DOT missed an opportunity to rebuild the interchange before the opening of Allegiant Stadium.

In order to expand Tropicana Avenue from three lanes to four in both directions between the Strip and Polaris Avenue to the west, a new bridge will be built over 1-15.

In addition, the left-turning lanes from Tropicana westbound to I-15 southbound are being increased from two to three, the entrance to northbound I-15 is being expanded from one lane to two, and the flyover from southbound I-15 to eastbound Tropicana is being rebuilt.

The Tropicana bridge, which is 60 years old and badly in need of replacing, is also being lengthened to accommodate future widening of the interstate. Dean Martin Drive will be realigned to run under Tropicana Avenue, improving traffic flow.

An HOV half-interchange on the south side of Harmon Avenue will enhance ingress and egress to and from the resort corridor. The stretch of freeway from Warm Springs to Flamingo is being repaved.

Other improvements include a pedestrian staircase between Tropicana and Dean Martin Drive, 10-foot wide Tropicana sidewalks, and landscaping and aesthetics.

According to the Nevada Department of Transportation, benefits include more efficient traffic flow between I-15 and Tropicana, improved travel time on I-15, enhanced safety for pedestrians, improved air quality due to freer-flowing traffic and the elimination of traffic signals at Tropicana and Dean Martin Drive, and facilitation of more lanes on I-15 in the future.

As for being poorly timed, this project was planned well before the location of Allegiant Stadium was announced. After that, it took on a higher priority, especially with the heavy existing traffic in and out of T-Mobile for concerts and hockey games.

The problem was, the NDOT had its hands full with Project Neon, which took three years (2016-2019) and cost $1 billion; it was the largest and most expensive public-works effort in Nevada history. It encompassed four miles of Interstate 15 between Sahara Avenue and the Spaghetti Bowl, as well as 63 miles of repaving, 29 new bridges, 10 miles of drainage improvements, several new interchanges and ramps including a Neon Gateway to downtown, surface-street-connection improvements, and new digital signage.

Then the pandemic hit, which delayed Dropicana for at least a year. There was also the matter of getting together the $305 million, up from $200 million when it was originally announced in 2018, to pay for the work.

All in all, we can't imagine any time that disrupting traffic at this interchange would be anything but inconvenient.

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Jackie Feb-20-2023

An Inconvenience?

Under the circumstances unimaginable prior to any work on roadways this interchange would have been far less inconvenient.  But let's take a look at something that would have enhanced traffic flow.

It seems that all of the casinos, being the combined largest workforce employers, also have the same work hour schedules. Therefore, shift changes create a huge inflow and outflow of traffic creating obnoxious congestion of the freeways, in turn creating the need for freeway expansion to multiple lanes and sooner than normal street repairs.

So why hasn't the city powers that be haven't simply asked the casinos to changed their shift hours to allow lesser traffic congestion?

Simply put, who has the most power?  The city leaders or the casino operators?

Now you know who to blame for the traffic inconvenience!

Kevin Lewis Feb-20-2023

Jackie

1. Las Vegas is a company town, and the real civic leaders are the casino operators. Realigning shifts would cost them money. Therefore: no way.
2. They don't care if the peasantry has more trouble getting around, as long as the worker bees get there on time and the tourists show up, clutching bags of money.
3. Important concept: the city and the people adapt to the whims of the casinos, not the other way around. No sane person would have advocated for the new foobaw stadium being built where it is--at a point of traffic that was already choked on Sundays. But the casinos wanted it there, so that all of a sudden, their parking garages could become huge revenue generators.

Kenneth Mytinger Feb-20-2023

Pedestrian staircase between Trop and Dean Martin

But, but, how are supposed to drive to In 'N' Out Burger now?

[email protected] Feb-20-2023

IN N OUT - Drive Thru

Will be part of the "flyover" lane. That will be cool.

Question of the Day - 20 February 2023

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