What Is the Spaghetti Bowl in Las Vegas?

I keep reading about Project Neon and the Spaghetti Bowl in Vegas News on your website. What and where exactly is the Spaghetti Bowl?

The name Spaghetti Bowl refers to the area to the northwest of downtown where interstates 15 and 515 and US highways 93 and 95 all converge. The tangled and confusing confluence of highways -- each a strand of pasta in a bowl, figuratively speaking -- accounts for the nickname.

Dr. Eugene Moehring, retired professor of history at UNLV and author of the seminal book Resort City in the Sunbelt: Las Vegas, provides insight into the traffic hub’s origins.

"The Spaghetti Bowl began to take shape in the late 1960s when the old City Park, built by the New Deal in the 1930s, was cleared for I-15 and its original cloverleaf on/off ramps. That road opened through downtown in roughly 1970 -- give or take a year. It opened up to Sahara Avenue going northbound in 1968 and opened past North Las Vegas by 1971," he writes in Resort City in the Sunbelt.

"Construction on the Oran Gragson Expressway (US 95) to provide access east and west in the budding metropolitan area to I-15 began almost immediately on the western leg," Moehring continues.

Moehring can’t pin down the origins of the name Spaghetti Bowl, but says that use of it was in full swing when he moved to Las Vegas in 1976. "Channel 8 and the newspapers were the ones who most used and popularized the term."

We couldn't track down who named it, but whoever did deserves royalties. If you had $10,000 for every time "Spaghetti Bowl" is referenced in local traffic reports, you’d be richer than Jeff Bezos (even after the divorce).

What and where exactly is the Spaghetti Bowl in Las Vegas?

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Jackie Nov-10-2019

Most likely

The name spaghetti bowl applied to several major cities traffic routing so when nationwide truck drivers saw the one in Las Vegas coming into being they naturally started calling it that.  Since they also use CB radios, locals who use CB radios as well picked up on the name and off it went.

Jackie Nov-10-2019

BTW

If you have a map of Texas turn it upside down and look at the freeway routing connecting Dallas and Fort Worth.

Sandra Ritter Nov-10-2019

Jackie's Right

We have it here in the Chicago area too.

Kevin Lewis Nov-10-2019

Needs a new name

It's like the world's worst amusement park ride. How about "The Maelstrom" or "The Vortex"? The city could put up animatronic figures to amuse you as you inch along, like Disney does. A huge Oscar Goodman figure, grinning and waving his hand, would really add flavor. Or maybe a blackjack dealer, drawing a 5 to his hard 16 and reaching out and taking your money--just like in real life!

Kevin Rough Nov-10-2019

It comes from England

The term "spaghetti bowl" was first used in 1965 by the Birmingham Evening Mail in the UK to describe the Gravelly Hill interchange on the M6 in Birmingham.  Since then the name has been applied to numerous interesections around the world including several in the US.  I have even heard the term "Henderson Spaghetti Bowl" to describe the interchange between I-215 and I-515 and Lake Mead Blvd.  I find the name "Malfunction Junction" as is used in Tampa to be a better name.

Larry Stone Nov-10-2019

name

the person who named the spaghetti bowl was a chef at the Stardust buffet.  His name was Chef Boy-Ar-Dee.

Jon Anderson Nov-10-2019

spaghetti bowl

hmmmmmmm spaghetti.........

gaattc2001 Nov-10-2019

A similar interchange in Dallas...

is called the "High Five," because it was one of the first in the area to have five levels. That's where the 635 (LBJ Freeway) meets the 75 (North Central Expressway). When it was completed they had a big barbecue dinner party for city officials and construction workers on the topmost level. I think there are several bigger ones in the Dallas area now.
We almost always come to Vegas from Phoenix on US 95 and around the 315 to the Tropicana/Flamingo area, so I haven't had to deal with the Spaghetti Bowl in some time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Five_Interchange

Question of the Day - 10 November 2019

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