Road projects could stall traffic in heart of Pahrump

Traffic through the heart of the Pahrump Valley will see some significant slowdowns in the coming weeks, with the Nevada Department of Transportation planning a road improvement project targeting roughly a mile of Highway 160.

The project calls for repaving of the highway from just north of the intersection of Highway 372 to just north of the intersection of Basin Avenue.

As part of the improvements, the section of the left northbound lane as it approaches Wilson Road, a source of continual complaint from area motorists, is set to finally be smoothed out.

“The project consists of a mill and fill of Highway 160 and reconstruction of pavement with 2.75 inches of asphalt concrete from mile post NY 9.88 to 10.76,” NDOT Public Information Officer Justin Hopkins detailed for the Pahrump Valley Times. “From milepost NY 9.88 to 10.76 the road is classified as a principal arterial with two 12-foot lanes per direction, 4-foot bike lanes in each direction, and a pedestrian sidewalk.

“The boundary to the south is the driveway between the Pahrump Nugget and the SuperPawn. The boundary to the north is between Basin Avenue and East Humahuaca Street,” Hopkins said.

Construction is set to begin on Monday, June 27 and resume for 30 working days, putting completion right at the first week of August, he said.

The project amounts to $1.99 million, with the construction contract awarded to Aggregate Industries of Las Vegas. Traffic control will consist of single-lane closures and as always, officials are asking the public to exercise both patience and caution when traveling through the work zone.

“During the day, they will have one lane open in each direction, so it’s going to be major congestion,” Nye County Public Works Director Tom Bolling told Nye County commissioners this week, noting that the department is doing what it can to work with NDOT to ease the effects of the cone zone. “We’ll fight as much as we can to make sure it doesn’t impact the public as much as possible, but it is going impact the traffic in that area,” he stated.

“It’s going to be brutal, Commissioner Debra Strickland said.

Pahrump Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Lewis added that the project is likely to affect emergency responders as well.

“I just want to remind the public to be patient with us during these projects,” Lewis said. “Our north-south thoroughfares are going to be impacted… so it could delay our response times a bit. We’re going to try to make the appropriate adjustments but it’s the major roadway for us to get to the north and to the south.”

In addition to upgrades for Pahrump’s main drag of highway, the project includes the replacement of a cattle guard at mile marker 37.25, near the intersection of Highway 160 and US 95. This is also considered a principal arterial. Single-lane closures, flaggers and a pilot car are expected to be utilized for traffic control on this portion of the project.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com