Keeping Nevada Moving: Mobility in the Silver State

[andy3175]

Found this report (Keeping Nevada Moving: Mobility in the Silver State) from http://www.tripnet.org/ a national transportation research group:

http://www.tripnet.org/docs/NV_Mobility_TRIP_Report_March_2014.pdf

It has a list of potential future highway projects that it would advocate for Nevada:

1. Continued expansion and modernization of portions of I-15 in the Las Vegas area.

2. Construction of new Interstate Highway 11 corridor from Phoenix to Las Vegas.

3. Improved I-215/Airport Connector interchange in Las Vegas area.

4. Widening of portions of I-80 in Reno ... to between 6 to 10 lanes in different sections.

5. Redevelopment of Maryland Parkway corridor from airport to downtown in Las Vegas ... with complete street enhancements and a center-running transit system that utilizes either Bus Rapid Transit or Light Rail.

6. Las Vegas Valley Eastern Bypass. The construction of an Eastern Bypass from the I-15/CC-215 northern interchange to US 95 will provide a southern truck bypass route from Utah to Arizona, relieving congestion on other area highways.

7. Addition of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes on portion of I-215 ... from I-515 to Summerlin Parkway.

8. Widening McCarran Boulevard in the Reno area ... from four to six lanes to relieve congestion.

9. Widening of the southern segment of I-15 ... from the California state line to the Southern Beltway from four to six lanes.

10. Widening of I-80 from Reno to Winnemucca ... by adding an additional lane in each direction.

11. Widening of portion of SR 225 in Northern Nevada ... by adding one lane in each direction from I-80 to Idaho state line to improve safety and enhance economic development opportunities in this corridor.

12. Improve portions of SR 445 Pyramid Highway in Reno area... (by) converting the existing arterial road from Calle De La Plata to Disc Drive to a 6-lane freeway, building a new 6-lane freeway from the Disc area west to US 395 and extending Disc Drive east from Pyramid to Vista as a 6-lane arterial road.

13. East Truckee Canyon/Spanish Springs ... (construct) A six-lane freeway connecting the east end of Sparks with east I-80 at about the Patrick Interchange.

14. Provide inland port facilities in Northern and Southern Nevada.

15. Provide rail passenger service between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

I've never heard of a proposal for an eastern bypass of Las Vegas (#6), nor have I heard about the SR 445 freeway (#12). I think #9 is already done, as Nevada had already expanded its portion of I-15 between Primm and Las Vegas to be at least three lanes in each direction. Perhaps they were thinking of I-15 south of Primm?

Regards,
Andy

[roadfro]

I've never heard of a proposal for an eastern bypass of Las Vegas (#6), nor have I heard about the SR 445 freeway (#12). I think #9 is already done, as Nevada had already expanded its portion of I-15 between Primm and Las Vegas to be at least three lanes in each direction. Perhaps they were thinking of I-15 south of Primm?

A lot of these are ideas that have been in various stages of proposal for some time, but a few are new to me.


#3 - A project is has recently finished that widened I-215 in the vicinity of the Airport Connector, including I think expanding the southbound to eastbound loop ramp to two lanes.

#4 - The design build project a few years ago achieved some widening (limited to adding an additional lane eastbound between downtown Reno and US 395/I-580, and some auxiliary lanes in Sparks).

#5 - Southern Nevada RTC has been looking at this one for a while, and it has been talked about in some news articles as a long-term project. It would complement the RTC Transit station that they are building on the UNLV campus. A side effect is the potential reduction of travel lanes from 3 to 2 in each direction.

#6 - This was an idea way back during the initial development of the Las Vegas Beltway as the "eastern leg". A feasibility study was even completed with concept alignments (I want to say this came out originally around 2000, but am not sure). The idea was shot down since at the time the eastern leg would have run through already developed neighborhoods and would have carried a $1 billion price tag that was thought not to be too expensive. Currently, there are various alignments under study in connection with the I-11 proposal in the longer-term lofty goals to extend I-11 north from Las Vegas. Some of those alignments include an I-11 routing that would be on the far east of Las Vegas area (such that it bypasses the valley almost entirely) and hooks back to I-15 north of Nellis AFB and either joins I-15 or cuts across the north end of Las Vegas Valley to US 95.

#7 - New to me, but would be a logical step in developing the HOV network in the Las Vegas area. HOV lanes on Summerlin Parkway would tie in well also.

#8 - Several chunks of McCarran are already widened to three lanes, but there are desires to do more with this.

#9 - Yeah, I-15 is 3-lanes each way up to the Primm interchange near the state line. The south I-15 corridor study recommended potential additional widening to some or all of this stretch.

#10 - New to me...not sure if it's needed...

#11 - New to me...as described, that would be pretty much the entire highway...

#12 - All this has been floated for several years by Washoe County RTC. I think it's in EIS stages. This is going to serve the Spanish Springs area, which is still the fastest growing area of Sparks. SR 445/Pyramid Highway is a very congested corridor for commuters heading into main part of Reno, since there's quite a few houses out there--it'd be worse if not for the recession slowing down home growth in that region.

#13 - New to me... Sounds like it could offer an alternate route between Sparks and the industrial areas east of Reno-Sparks.