Kiewit Wins $559M Road-Widening Contract in Nevada

Nevada's Board of Transportation approved a $559 million widening and improvement project of Interstate 15 and the Spaghetti Bowl called Project Neon.

Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevada's Board of Transportation approved a $559 million widening and improvement project of Interstate 15 and the Spaghetti Bowl called Project Neon. The project will be completed by the fall of 2019.

Gov. Brian Sandoval, chairman of the panel, said the construction time for the project has been greatly reduced since it was first envisioned by the Nevada Department of Transportation.

Chris Koenig, speaking on behalf of the construction company, said Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. is thrilled and honored to be involved in Project Neon.

"It's an aggressive schedule but we put a lot of time into it," he said. "We're confident."

"I'd like to reaffirm our commitment to creating local jobs," Koenig said.

Kiewit plans to hire nearly 300 workers from local union halls and procure materials and supplies for the project from local businesses. Nevada subcontractors already on the team include Wells Cargo Construction, Aggregate Industries, Atkins North America and several others.

Kiewit has finished over 120 projects in Nevada since the 1970s and built the original Spaghetti Bowl in Las Vegas in 1968.

The design-build project, a construction option that enables the designer and construction contractor to work simultaneously as the project progresses, will likely begin by March and encompass 3.7 miles of the I-15 freeway.

When it does, Spaghetti Bowl lanes will be reduced at times as workers deliver a series of improvements designed to ease congestion at an intersection that carries 270,000 vehicles a day.

The largest element of the project will be a high-occupancy-vehicle flyover bridge connecting U.S. Highway 95 with I-15. There also will be a freeway interchange exclusively for high-occupancy vehicles south of Charleston Boulevard.

It's currently the busiest stretch of highway in Nevada with 300,000 vehicles daily, or one-tenth of the state population, that sees 25,000 lane changes an hour. Traffic through the corridor is expected to double by 2035.

"Kiewit's proposal will complete construction nearly a year earlier than anticipated for a nearly $80 million time savings for local taxpayers," said NDOT Director Rudy Malfabon. "Kiewit's accelerated schedule also maintains local street accessibility during construction and provides project innovation."

Project NEON, upon completion in late 2019, will reduce travel delays by 28 percent for a $110 million annual savings through increased productivity, according to NDOT. It will improve air quality due to less idle time and vehicle exhaust while enhancing safety from less merge and weave traffic.

See more at the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

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