Question of the Day - 20 January 2024

The first short stretch of Interstate 11 opened in 2018. As you say, it runs from the Arizona border, near the middle of the Mike O'Callahan-Pat Tillman Bridge, to the interchange of 215 west and 515 north. It was built over a number of years and cost $338 million, which gives you an idea of how much an interstate proposed to cover nearly 500 miles from Nogales, Arizona, on the Mexican border to Las Vegas, then another 1,100 miles to the Canadian border will cost overall. 

As you can imagine, just determining the right of way is a major project that creeps along at city-street speed. A Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement for the 250 miles from Nogales to Wickenburg, Arizona, slightly north of Phoenix, was completed in November 2021. It established the interstate corridor selected by the Arizona and U.S. Departments of Transportation, which needs to be nearly a half-mile wide. A Tier 2 EIS, which narrows that down to "alignments" 400 feet wide, has been proposed, but hasn't started; once it does, it's expected to take three years to complete.

These alignments, by the by, are already contested by local environmental groups. 

The route from Phoenix to Reno will generally align with US 93 from Wickenburg to Las Vegas, then US 95 from Las Vegas to Reno. The rights of way are generally fixed; both of those stretches would have to be widened from two lanes to four, with the attending high set of standards required by interstate designation.

As such, I-11 is about to be extended north through Las Vegas Valley. New signs designating the interstate will soon be installed at the interchange with 515 all the way to the Kyle Canyon Road turnoff on US 95 roughly 30 miles northwest of the city. The I-11 signage will replace the 515 signs, though the US 95 designation will remain. From there, I-11 will be extended again all the way to Mercury, 60 miles northwest, where US 95 narrows from four lanes to two. However, all the on-off ramps between Kyle Canyon Road and Mercury will have to be upgraded to interstate standards and when that might begin and where the money will come from have yet to be decided. 

As you can see, overall, I-11 is so far in the future that we doubt we'll see too much of it completed in our lifetime. 

We can say this, though. The stretch of completed I-11 from the Colorado River to the metropolitan area has been, since it opened, and always will be a huge boon, allowing through traffic to bypass the morass of the center of Boulder City. It saves a good 20 minutes, several traffic signals, and aggravation. Every time we drive from the bridge to the valley, we thank the interstate gods for their grace in the matter.