I-15/Tropicana interchange rebuild

[Sub-Urbanite]

I don't care about a new pedestrian bridge — though one would be nice — but more substantial fencing is needed. The 6 foot chain links just don't stop humans from unintentionally ending their lives on that freeway.

Have to be pretty intentional to climb up and over a six-foot fence.

I know a few folks who have found themselves in Vegas, on the west side of I-15, thinking "The Strip is riiiiiiiight there" and also were drunk out of their minds.

[DenverBrian]

With the Oakland A's signing a purchase agreement for land to build a baseball stadium at the northwest corner of Tropicana and Dean Martin Drive, I can envision a separate pedestrian (and possibly bus) bridge being added, crossing Frank Sinatra Drive, I-15 and Dean Martin Drive and more or less connecting T-Mobile Arena with the new ballpark.  You're going to need to move a lot of people from The Strip to the ballpark for 81 major league baseball games per season.  It wouldn't literally be a part of this NDOT project as a ballpark agreement won't be finalized for several more months at least, but it's another improvement I'd expect to see in this area if the ballpark deal does happen.

That looks like a very tight squeeze for a ballpark and associated parking at that spot.

No, that's not right; the purchase agreement is for 49 acres of land west of Dean Martin Drive and north of Tropicana.  I think Target Field in Minneapolis is on about 8 acres, and Fenway Park in Boston is about the same.  So 49 acres is plenty.  They are talking about an "Entertainment District" on some of the acreage outside the ballpark; not sure why Vegas would need any more of that, especially on the west side of I-15 away from The Strip.

Here's the Coors Field entry...note that it's 76 acres. https://www.mlb.com/rockies/ballpark/information
But...Yankee Stadium claims 24 acres, and Oracle Park claims 12.5 acres, so I guess they can get it in there!

[Henry]

With the Oakland A's signing a purchase agreement for land to build a baseball stadium at the northwest corner of Tropicana and Dean Martin Drive, I can envision a separate pedestrian (and possibly bus) bridge being added, crossing Frank Sinatra Drive, I-15 and Dean Martin Drive and more or less connecting T-Mobile Arena with the new ballpark.  You're going to need to move a lot of people from The Strip to the ballpark for 81 major league baseball games per season.  It wouldn't literally be a part of this NDOT project as a ballpark agreement won't be finalized for several more months at least, but it's another improvement I'd expect to see in this area if the ballpark deal does happen.

That looks like a very tight squeeze for a ballpark and associated parking at that spot.

No, that's not right; the purchase agreement is for 49 acres of land west of Dean Martin Drive and north of Tropicana.  I think Target Field in Minneapolis is on about 8 acres, and Fenway Park in Boston is about the same.  So 49 acres is plenty.  They are talking about an "Entertainment District" on some of the acreage outside the ballpark; not sure why Vegas would need any more of that, especially on the west side of I-15 away from The Strip.

Here's the Coors Field entry...note that it's 76 acres. https://www.mlb.com/rockies/ballpark/information
But...Yankee Stadium claims 24 acres, and Oracle Park claims 12.5 acres, so I guess they can get it in there!

I imagine that this would be along the lines of The Battery outside Atlanta. That area is 52 acres, so it's a comparable example.

(BTW, Wrigley Field is probably 11 acres, slightly larger than Fenway.)

[roadman65]

https://www.i15trop.com/new-tropicana-ave-traffic-pattern/
I see this Summer, NDOT is using a DDI during construction of the interchange between I-15 and Tropicana Avenue to help ease traffic to and from the south.

Unlike other DDIs which remain, this one will perish once the NB ramps are completed.

[roadman65]

The In and Out Burger on the NE Corner of Tropicana and Dean Martin will not be as accessible as its name suggests once the I-15 and Tropicana Avenue project is completed.  The plan calls for eliminating the said intersection for a grade separation and being the driveway to the In and Out is located on Dean Martin Drive, traffic to it from Tropicana won't be able to access it ( which is where most of its business comes from) afterwards.

[Rothman]

Let us take a moment to mourn the change of access to a Las Vegas In-N-Out.

...

Back to work.

[heynow415]

Let us take a moment to mourn the change of access to a Las Vegas In-N-Out.

...

Back to work.

At least by Las Vegas standards, this In-n-Out may qualify for the historic register and thus be entitled to retaining its access      IIRC, this location was one of the first, if not the first, In-n-Out forays beyond southern California, even before appearing north of the Grapevine.

[Occidental Tourist]

Looks like there will be RIROs on both sides of Tropicana down to Dean Martin Drive, with the westbound one basically being the same direct access to the In-n-Out from Tropicana as currently exists. The eastbound routing will subject you to one additional stoplight than what currently exists.  Instead of making a direct left turn from e/b Tropicana to Dean Martin Drive to get the In-n-Out, you'll have to make a right, go down to the light at the new Dean Martin, and make 2 lefts.

[kernals12]

I drove through the Dropicana today. It was the only freeway traffic jam I encountered.

[roadfro]

I don't know that the goal in this article title will be achieved... but the article does give us a tangible update on the Tropicana interchange project.

Las Vegas Super Bowl aims to be the 'least congested' traffic-wise, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 10/23/2023

Organizers are looking to make the 2024 Super Bowl the least congested in history. To help their efforts, extra resources have been made available for the ongoing $305 million Interstate 15/Tropicana Avenue project.

The Nevada Department of Transportation has made extra money available to go toward workers with project contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West to allow for extra work shifts to speed up work on the Tropicana bridge.
<...>
"In advance of the Super Bowl, NDOT is actively working with the I-15/Tropicana Ave. Interchange contractor on a revised work plan that will include additional staff support above the current contract requirements," [NDOT Spokesperson Justin] Hopkins said. "The contractor is developing a project schedule that will ensure completion of the north half of the Tropicana Ave. bridge before the Super Bowl while leaving the south half of the bridge intact until after the Super Bowl."
<...>
"One of our goals is to make this Super Bowl the least congested Super Bowl ever," said Steve Hill, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president and CEO. "The fact that the city is so walkable it gives us a real headstart on that. The entire transportation team in the valley is working on this. NDOT has stepped up with this Tropicana/I-15 intersection is being worked on right now and the north half of that is torn out and makes it difficult. It is the gateway to the Super Bowl."

With the north half of the Tropicana bridge planned to be complete in time for the Super Bowl, scheduled for Feb. 11, that will provide the opportunity to allow more traffic over the bridge than what the constricted road currently can handle. The diverging diamond interchange setup will not be in place during Super Bowl week.

"That work will be paused the week of the Super Bowl, but that intersection will basically be completely open, (and) because the north part will be done, there will be additional capacity that we haven't even had on the north part of the intersection."

Construction on improving the south portion of the Tropicana bridge will begin following the conclusion of Super Bowl week, Hill said.

"We're taking steps like that to make sure that this is the smoothest transportation Super Bowl ever," Hill said.
<...>

[heynow415]

. . . said Steve Hill, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president and CEO. "The fact that the city is so walkable it gives us a real headstart on that.

Now that's funny.  With the constant construction and disruption obstructing sidewalks, sidewalks that are somewhat functional located right next to 45+mph traffic, superblocks that have no connectivity through them, and needing circuitous-route escalators and overpasses to cross the street because the roads are so congested isn't what is typically considered "pedestrian friendly" 

[Rothman]

. . . said Steve Hill, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president and CEO. "The fact that the city is so walkable it gives us a real headstart on that.

Now that's funny.  With the constant construction and disruption obstructing sidewalks, sidewalks that are somewhat functional located right next to 45+mph traffic, superblocks that have no connectivity through them, and needing circuitous-route escalators and overpasses to cross the street because the roads are so congested isn't what is typically considered "pedestrian friendly"

Oof.  My sister and her significant other recently went to Vegas, stayed some blocks off the Strip, thinking they could walk.  Well, no.  No, they could not, due to Vegas' very disconnected sidewalks.

[Plutonic Panda]

. . . said Steve Hill, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president and CEO. "The fact that the city is so walkable it gives us a real headstart on that.

Now that's funny.  With the constant construction and disruption obstructing sidewalks, sidewalks that are somewhat functional located right next to 45+mph traffic, superblocks that have no connectivity through them, and needing circuitous-route escalators and overpasses to cross the street because the roads are so congested isn't what is typically considered "pedestrian friendly"

Oof.  My sister and her significant other recently went to Vegas, stayed some blocks off the Strip, thinking they could walk.  Well, no.  No, they could not, due to Vegas' very disconnected sidewalks.

"Some blocks" ??? How many blocks are talking about? Vegas sidewalk connectivity isn't that bad. I would be more worried about crime in certain areas. Visit OKC if you want to see what a truly disconnected sidewalk network looks like lol

[Rothman]

. . . said Steve Hill, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president and CEO. "The fact that the city is so walkable it gives us a real headstart on that.

Now that's funny.  With the constant construction and disruption obstructing sidewalks, sidewalks that are somewhat functional located right next to 45+mph traffic, superblocks that have no connectivity through them, and needing circuitous-route escalators and overpasses to cross the street because the roads are so congested isn't what is typically considered "pedestrian friendly"

Oof.  My sister and her significant other recently went to Vegas, stayed some blocks off the Strip, thinking they could walk.  Well, no.  No, they could not, due to Vegas' very disconnected sidewalks.

"Some blocks" ??? How many blocks are talking about? Vegas sidewalk connectivity isn't that bad. I would be more worried about crime in certain areas. Visit OKC if you want to see what a truly disconnected sidewalk network looks like lol

4 long ones, I believe.

[Plutonic Panda]

. . . said Steve Hill, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president and CEO. "The fact that the city is so walkable it gives us a real headstart on that.

Now that's funny.  With the constant construction and disruption obstructing sidewalks, sidewalks that are somewhat functional located right next to 45+mph traffic, superblocks that have no connectivity through them, and needing circuitous-route escalators and overpasses to cross the street because the roads are so congested isn't what is typically considered "pedestrian friendly"

Oof.  My sister and her significant other recently went to Vegas, stayed some blocks off the Strip, thinking they could walk.  Well, no.  No, they could not, due to Vegas' very disconnected sidewalks.

"Some blocks" ??? How many blocks are talking about? Vegas sidewalk connectivity isn't that bad. I would be more worried about crime in certain areas. Visit OKC if you want to see what a truly disconnected sidewalk network looks like lol

4 long ones, I believe.

Yeah blocks can vary pretty greatly from city to city. Blocks start to become square miles not far from the strip. If it's in the unincorporated counties(of which the strip is) then I can see disconnected sidewalks. It drives me nuts to see the condition of the sidewalks in LA. It's like you walking up a mini mountain.

[roadfro]

BUMP to announce that the I-15/Harmon Ave HOV half interchange should be opening next week.

New I-15-Harmon half interchange to open soon, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1/18/2024

The newly constructed Interstate 15-Harmon Avenue half interchange now has an opening date.

The interchange, which is part of the $305 million I-15/Tropicana project, will open to traffic Jan. 26, the Nevada Department of Transportation announced Thursday.

Drivers will be able to access Harmon from I-15 northbound via the high occupancy vehicle lane on the far left on the interstate starting Jan. 26. Motorists can enter I-15 southbound from Harmon at the interchange that will lead drivers to the HOV lane on the interstate.

There is no I-15 northbound access from Harmon and there is no Harmon access from I-15 southbound as part of the interchange.

The Harmon on-and-off-ramps are located on the far left lane of both directions of I-15 and will be under HOV restrictions between 6 and 8 a.m. and 4 and 6 p.m weekdays and open to all any hours outside of those and on the weekend.

[mrsman]

BUMP to announce that the I-15/Harmon Ave HOV half interchange should be opening next week.

New I-15-Harmon half interchange to open soon, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1/18/2024

The newly constructed Interstate 15-Harmon Avenue half interchange now has an opening date.

The interchange, which is part of the $305 million I-15/Tropicana project, will open to traffic Jan. 26, the Nevada Department of Transportation announced Thursday.

Drivers will be able to access Harmon from I-15 northbound via the high occupancy vehicle lane on the far left on the interstate starting Jan. 26. Motorists can enter I-15 southbound from Harmon at the interchange that will lead drivers to the HOV lane on the interstate.

There is no I-15 northbound access from Harmon and there is no Harmon access from I-15 southbound as part of the interchange.

The Harmon on-and-off-ramps are located on the far left lane of both directions of I-15 and will be under HOV restrictions between 6 and 8 a.m. and 4 and 6 p.m weekdays and open to all any hours outside of those and on the weekend.

This is interesting.

This post led me to do some more reading about HOV use in Las Vegas.  Currently, there is a continuous HOV lane from Elkhorn/US 95 in the northwest part of town following US 95 through the Spaghetti Bowl and then coming down I-15 to end south of the Strip.  There are direct connections to the street at Elkhorn, and at Neon Gateway, which is just south of Charleston - somewhat adjacent to Downtown.  Summerlin Parkway also has a direct connection.  The new ramps to Harmon will make the mid-Strip area have direct access to the HOV lanes, as Harmon is between Tropicana and Flamingo.  As mentioned above, the new ramps only serve to access people who are using the HOV lanes south of Harmon.

What I find interesting is that before these lanes were HOV, the lanes on I-15 were express lanes that were open to all traffic.  Unlike the express lanes that are now common in many areas, any driver could use them without paying toll, it was just that those committed to the express lanes were to siphon off traffic that was not going to exit in the Strip area.  By its design, they had pylons to separate express lane traffic from general traffic - similar to the design of the Capital Beltway express lanes in Virginia.

I also noticed that HOV hours have diminished over time.  Originally, there was a 24 hour HOV restriction that later got narrowed to 5AM - 10 PM and now is only restricted to the barest rush hours: 6-8 AM and 4-6 PM.  A lot of discussion has suggested that HOV doesn't work so well in Vegas because of the 24 hour economy many workers do not work typical schedules that would encourage carpooling.

So it would seem that perhaps, if politically feasible, the HOV lanes would be a good candidate for conversion to HO/T express lanes, allowing single occupancy vehicles access for a toll.

[Scott5114]

There's not much need for the toll if they're already built and paid for—why not just make them an express/local setup like they were before? I think they still have those in the Chicago area, don't they?

[cl94]

There actually have been proposals to convert them to HOT lanes. Bills never made it through the legislature.

On that note, Nevada also places very strict constitutional limits on tolling. Tolls can only be used to pay for the construction/ maintenance of the facility being tolled. No using tolls to pay for transit or other programs. This has been causing issues up at Lake Tahoe over the past few years, where some CA side local politicians want tolls at the lake to support transit, but NV is strongly opposed on grounds of the state constitution.

(Personal opinion emphasized)

[Scott5114]

So would that mean that toll money for a HOT lane could only be used to maintain that one lane?

[cl94]

So would that mean that toll money for a HOT lane could only be used to maintain that one lane?

Based on the wording of the state constitution, yes.

[mrsman]

There's not much need for the toll if they're already built and paid for—why not just make them an express/local setup like they were before? I think they still have those in the Chicago area, don't they?

The idea of the tolling isn't so much for paying for the road, it serves as a system of congestion control.  Pay for the privilege of a faster commute.  Lexus lanes.

There actually have been proposals to convert them to HOT lanes. Bills never made it through the legislature.

On that note, Nevada also places very strict constitutional limits on tolling. Tolls can only be used to pay for the construction/ maintenance of the facility being tolled. No using tolls to pay for transit or other programs. This has been causing issues up at Lake Tahoe over the past few years, where some CA side local politicians want tolls at the lake to support transit, but NV is strongly opposed on grounds of the state constitution.

(Personal opinion emphasized)

So would that mean that toll money for a HOT lane could only be used to maintain that one lane?

Based on the wording of the state constitution, yes.

Wow!  If there are state laws preventing an effective HOT lane system, than it simply cannot happen.  Although one has to imagine that maintenance costs are definitely in the millions per year, even for one lane.  But likely they can only charge money during the traditional rush hour.

I would normally think that LV is a good market for HOT lanes because so many of the tourists have a high roller mentality and are willing to spend money.  But you can't go against the constitution.

[ran4sh]

I would think that if  tourists really were going to use HOT lanes, then the state would consider changing the constitution to allow such lanes

[mgk920]

I would think that if  tourists really were going to use HOT lanes, then the state would consider changing the constitution to allow such lanes

But would such a change play anywhere outstate?

Mike

[Scott5114]

I would normally think that LV is a good market for HOT lanes because so many of the tourists have a high roller mentality and are willing to spend money.  But you can't go against the constitution.

Wait, why are there tourists on the freeways to begin with? Most of them don't leave the Strip the entire time they're there, and if they do it's to go to Fremont Street.

If they're driving up from California, the I-15 HOV lane isn't going to be of any use to them, since it doesn't access any of the Strip exits.