Project Neon Moving Forward With Government-Issued Bonds

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Project Neon is one of the most important and most ambitious undertakings in the Nevada Department of Transportation’s (NDOT) nearly 100-year history.

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Coming at a HUGE price tag, the state Transportation Board on Monday (August 18, 2014) decided to not go with a public-private situation. Instead, the Project Neon improvements will be paid for with a bond, using the design-build method.

This decision was made because the board agreed that it would offer more flexibility and would be more cost effective in completing Project neon.

The reason for this project is that it should mitigate traffic on the 3.7 mile stretch of the 15, near the appropriately named, Spaghetti Bowl. Almost 250,000 vehicles pass through the Spaghetti Bowl daily.

Construction should start in late 2015 or early 2016, with a completion date of 2020.

Project Neon

The multi-phase, multi-year Project Neon will boost safety, mobility and accessibility in the most heavily trafficked corridor in the state of Nevada. Nearly 250,000 vehicles a day use the 3.7-mile stretch from the U.S. 95-I-15 interchange in downtown Las Vegas to Sahara Avenue.

Expected to cost between $1.3 billion and $1.8 billion and take 20 years to complete all five phases, Project Neon will enhance the local transportation network by separating freeway motorists from local traffic, making freeway entrances and exits more accessible, increasing I-15 capacity, reducing congestion (which lengthens travel times and leads to accidents), improving access to downtown Las Vegas and expanding options for express lane travel, carpoolers and rapid transit.

Project Neon is essential to the progression of Las Vegas transportation and quality of life. As a 20-year program of improvements, Project Neon is expected to create hundreds of planning and engineering jobs and thousands of construction jobs over its lifetime. Plans for Phases 1 and 3 are underway. The phases will reduce freeway congestion, improve local street networks, create an improved HOV system and feature a reconstruction of the Charleston interchange, among other highlights.

Learn more about Project neon at www.ndotprojectneon.com.