Do you ever try to use the Blue Diamond Road exit at I15 during rush hour? If you do, then you know how backed-up the traffic gets because of the tremendous growth in our area. A larger interchange is long overdue. According to a July 2005 article, found in borderonline.com, “The Las Vegas Paving Corporation will be building the $32 million Blue Diamond Road interchange at Interstate 15.” The year and a half project will begin construction this month!! The article goes on to say, “The new six-lane, full diamond interchange will replace the current two-lane bridge. The new, 160-foot-wide, 290-foot long, steel and concrete bridge structure is expected to open in early 2007.” The new overpass will be built just south of the existing one and will some how intersect with Windmill Parkway.
Our Next Fire Station
On Tuesday, August 23, 2005 I had the opportunity to interview our Senior Deputy Fire Chief, Steve Hanson. Hanson, a citizen of Clark County for more than thirty years, recalls a younger, more desolate Las Vegas. “I would say there was less than 100,000 in when I moved here 1962…this was a completely different place,” Hanson said while remembering his younger years as a fire fighter.
With the Las Vegas valley growing at an unprecedented rate I asked Hanson, “What do you think about the huge population boom that the Las Vegas area is experiencing?”
Hanson paused for a moment then said, “It’s a real challenge to provide the services everyone expects.” He went on to say, “The easy part is building them (a fire station)...staffing them, now that’s the hard part.” There are, at a minimum, eighteen people required to staff a fire/rescue station. That is three, six person shifts that are on call twenty-four hours per day.
We can expect our next neighborhood fire department to be built in about another year and a half. Hanson told me, “There are five stations on the books (for the entire valley) and Station 37 is third on the list…and will be built sometime in mid 2007.” Station 37 will be located near the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Serene Avenue. I will report more as the process moves along.
Community Meeting Re: Cactus Sand and Gravel
There was a community meeting held on August 25, 2005 regarding Cactus Sand and Gravel, also known as Impact Sand and Gravel. Located at Cactus Avenue and Amigo Street the gravel pit has been in operation since the middle of the last decade and will be mined until summer of 2010. Luis Cervantes, a representative for Impact Sand and Gravel, began the meeting by saying, “As of right now they (Clark County) don’t want us doing anything to their road…we wouldn’t do it to their standard.” The road he is talking about is the stretch of Cactus Avenue between Amigo Street and Maryland Parkway and south of the gravel pit.
Cervantes followed up by saying, “We will do the rock patrol.” This means there will be a crew that will keep the baseball size rocks off the road. Watch out! I will let you know when the next meeting is scheduled. Check out my story in the June 2005 article on my blog to learn more about Cactus Sand and Gravel.
Plans for Hoover Dam BypassAccording to bridgepros.com, “The Hoover Dam Bypass Project is a complex project made up of four miles of roadway with two lanes in each direction, and a 2,000 foot-long bridge (approximately 1,500 feet downstream of the Hoover) over the Colorado River.” The type of bridge being built is composite concrete deck arch bridge and some say the bypass is a “mirage built of concrete.”
An article in the Las Vegas Review Journal said, “That’s because a Boulder City bypass road won’t be ready anywhere near the time the dam bypass bridge opens.” If you know Boulder City then you know what kind of a problem they will soon face. The article went on to say, “While the $240 million dam bypass bridge is on track to be open by late 2008, the $350 million city bypass road has yet to be designed and funded.”
According to bridgepros.com, “The project is to be completed in four distinct phases; the Arizona approach, the Nevada approach, the Colorado River Bridge, and final roadway surfacing.” The entire Hoover Dam Bypass Project is expected to be complete in 2007 at a cost of $234 million. Traveling on the current route from Nevada to Arizona is unsafe and the new bypass will allow for more development of the surrounding area. This will make more jobs and bring more commerce to southern Nevada. I will report more as the project goes on. If you would like to learn more about buying real estate in this up and coming area, call me, Brad Emens 702-808-3531.
