Delays expected at Red Rock Canyon as loop gets fresh layer of pavement

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area officials say visitors can expect unusually long delays on the park’s 13-mile scenic drive as a construction project gets underway.

Crews will begin pulverizing and repaving the loop in roughly onemile increments Sunday evening after the gates close. The entire oneway road will be resurfaced over the course of the project, which expected to last into summer.

Within the work area, a single 11-foot-wide travel lane will be available, with a reduced speed limit and no passing allowed.

John Asselin, spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management in Southern Nevada, said general contractor Las Vegas Paving plans to perform the majority of the work on weekdays in an effort to limit congestion on weekends.

“This is our season, so the weekends are super busy,” he said.

The BLM would have preferred to see the work done during the hot summer months, when visitation is lower, but Asselin said it has to be done now, because this is when the money is available.

“That’s just how the whole contracting machine works in the federal government. You get it when you get it,” he said.

The Federal Highway Administration is funding the $6.4 million project, which comes on the heels of a $4.9 million effort to expand and repave the parking lots and place bridges over two washes on the scenic loop.

The work is part of the first major road upgrade in more than 20 years in the fee area at Red Rock, where attendance has exploded in recent years.

The park 20 miles west of the Strip drew just 20,000 people the year its original visitor center opened in 1982. Last year, the nation’s busiest BLM site set a record with more than 2.5 million visitors.

The current paving project does not include a new return road that would have given motorists a way to get back to the visitor center without driving the entire scenic loop. BLM officials proposed the 2.4-mile shortcut between Sandstone Quarry and the visitor center to improve traffic flow and provide better access for emergency vehicles, but federal funding wasn’t available, Asselin said.

“If in the future money shows up, we would go forward with that,” he said.

Updates on the construction as it proceeds will be posted to BLM Nevada social media, including BLM Nevada’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @BLMNV. Project updates also will be available at Red Rock’s fee booths and visitor center. Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.