Transportation

Hoover Dam sign hurt business, so it’s changed

The Nevada Department of Transportation has rephrased the sign at Buchanan Boulevard and Nevada Way to let drivers know there are two routes to Hoover Dam. The new sign went up June 3.

After a sign started diverting tourists visiting the Hoover Dam to another route, downtown Boulder City saw a drop in business. Heeding the complaints of business owners, the Transportation Department changed the sign in 14 days.

21 June 2009
By Jean Reid Norman,
Jeremy Twitchell

Boulder City gets extra money for airport improvements

Boulder City got a $350,000 windfall for its municipal airport last week when it received a stimulus check from the federal government. The city was expecting about $2.5 million from the Federal Aviation Administration — $1.25 million in an annual grant the city always gets and another $1.2 million in extra stimulus money. But when the check arrived, it was for $2.8 million, Community Development Manager Brok Armantrout said.

17 June 2009
By Jean Reid Norman

Hoover Dam checkpoint relocated in Arizona

The security checkpoint along U.S. 93 on the Arizona side of the Hoover Dam is being relocated as part of the Hoover Dam bypass project and motorists can expect minor delays, the Arizona Department of Transportation announced.

17 June 2009
By Cara McCoy

Trade-offs between technologies include speed, cost

It’s a tale of two trains. One would be a conventional steel-wheels-on-rails model that would move faster than any train operating in the West, powered by electricity or a diesel-electric hybrid locomotive.

14 June 2009
By Richard N. Velotta

Public or private, rail line will need major subsidies from government

Railroad building is not for the financially timid. Except for a few tourist trains hauling sightseers up scenic mountains, private passenger rail companies don’t exist in this country for a reason. Railroads don’t make money.

14 June 2009
By Lisa Mascaro

Maglev or DesertXpress? One could be your new ride

Maglev or DesertXpress? One could be your new ride

Dreamers have long envisioned a fast train to whisk riders between Las Vegas and Southern California. But probably no one expected that, with $8 billion in federal money available for the smartest proposals across the country, two starkly different proposals for fast trains would compete.

14 June 2009
By Lisa Mascaro

City Council gives final OK to plan to revamp Boulder corridor

The area along Boulder Highway, shown here from the bottom-right to the top-left of the image, was rezoned in response to plans for a rapid bus transit line. Interstate 515 is shown to the left of Boulder Highway, with Interstate 215 near the bottom-left of the image.

After more than two years of planning, several public meetings and hundreds of comments, Henderson’s plan to reshape Boulder Highway into a sleek corridor of modern, mixed-use developments won final approval from the City Council.

11 June 2009
By Jeremy Twitchell

Friendly helpers greet bus passengers

Durango High School senior Colby Laub, 17, answers questions for tourists as a Deuce ambassador at a Las Vegas Strip bus stop on May 31.

A half-dozen tourists congregate at a bus-ticket-vending machine on the Strip, exasperated.

11 June 2009
By Brian Eckhouse

Maglev train to press on without Reid

Organizers of a maglev train system linking Las Vegas and Southern California say they are undeterred by the loss of Sen. Harry Reid's support. From left are Neil Cummings, American Magline Group president; transportation consultant Kevin Coates; and Bruce Aguilera, chairman of a maglev train commission.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to support construction of a conventional high-speed rail link to California is just a “bump in the road,” promoters of the rival maglev rail line said Tuesday. They vowed to push ahead on a proposal that has existed for years on, if anything, optimism.

10 June 2009
By Lisa Mascaro

Clark County roads wait for stimulus while rurals get work

The Nevada Transportation Department has so far used its share of the federal stimulus on projects in rural Nevada.

10 June 2009
By Cy Ryan

Reid sides with Desert Xpress fast train option

The fully electric DesertXpress trains would reach top speeds of 150 mph and travel 184 miles from Victorville, Calif., to Las Vegas in 84 minutes.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has thrown his support behind Desert Xpress, the proposed privately financed fast train between Las Vegas and Southern California, all but dooming chances for a competing Maglev system. Reid’s office confirms a brief report in today’s Los Angeles Times that the senator prefers the traditional rail project to the magnetic levitation train he has championed for years. The reversal comes at a critical juncture.

9 June 2009
By Lisa Mascaro

Declining gas tax revenue means fewer road projects

Construction continues on the Interstate 515 Galleria Mall interchange at U.S. 95 and Sunset Road.

The valley’s highway planning agency says gas tax revenue is dropping so dramatically, it may decide Thursday to opt for only $414 million in highway projects over the next 20 years — not the $1.4 billion it anticipated just 2 1/2 years ago.

9 June 2009
By Brian Eckhouse

Train proposals seek momentum

Competing high-speed-train proposals for systems linking Las Vegas with Southern California will seek support from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority today.

9 June 2009
By Richard N. Velotta

With VIP lines, airport catches up to clubs, buffets

After a long wait, first-class customers are getting additional perks at McCarran International Airport.

6 June 2009
By Brian Eckhouse

Sign updated to direct drivers through downtown on way to dam

The Nevada Department of Transportation has rephrased the sign at the intersection of Buchanan Boulevard and Nevada Way to let tourists know that there are two routes to Hoover Dam. The new sign went up June 3.

It’s no longer a secret that Nevada Way, the main drag through Boulder City, leads to Hoover Dam. A large overhead sign above the Nevada Highway intersection with Buchanan Boulevard, installed by the Nevada Department of Transportation at a cost of $1.2 million, directed drivers to turn left onto the U.S. 93 truck route to get to Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. It directed them straight ahead on Nevada Way to reach Boulder City’s Historic District.

5 June 2009
By Jean Reid Norman
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