Project Neon improvements to open Monday for drivers

Monday marks a big day for Project Neon as three major components come online.

The new offramp from southbound U.S. Highway 95 to Martin Luther King Boulevard will open to motorists at 6 a.m. Monday.

The ramp, which has been closed to traffic since Feb. 3., will reopen with increased lane capacity, the Nevada Department of Transportation announced Thursday.

Three full right turn lanes and two full left turn lanes replace the old configuration featuring one left turn lane and two right turn lanes.

“The upgraded split ramp adds lane capacity, thereby reducing vehicle backups while improving motorist safety and mobility,” said Tony Illia, NDOT spokesman.

Monday morning also will see the newly constructed slip ramp from Charleston Boulevard to Martin Luther King open.

The single-lane ramp starts just as motorists heading east pass through the Shadow Lane intersection near the UNLV School of Medicine and provides access to both north and south Martin Luther King, where a new traffic signal will be in place.

The ramp only provides access from Charleston to Martin Luther King. Traffic traveling on Martin Luther King cannot use the ramp to access Charleston, Illia said.

Lastly, the newly constructed bridge extending Industrial Road from Wyoming Avenue north across the railroad tracks to Western Avenue-grand Central Parkway intersection opens at 6 a.m. Monday.

The concrete girder structure, measuring 149 feet long by 24 feet high, will carry traffic over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. Also, a 10-foot sidewalk on each side of the bridge will connect pedestrians between Charleston and Wyoming.

“The single-span structure is another north-south connection that minimizes vehicle gridlock and improves mobility, creating additional access into Downtown Las Vegas and Symphony Park, as well as the Medical and Arts districts,” Illia said.

With the trio of openings Monday, the nearly $1 billion, 4-mile widening of I-15 from Sahara Avenue to the Spaghetti Bowl, Project Neon enters its final stretch.

The project kicked off in 2016 and sits at 95 percent finished with substantial completion slated for May 13.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.