Highway 160 construction commences July 11

The Independence Day holiday has come and gone, clearing the way for the next big state-sponsored road improvement project in Pahrump, which is set to begin in just a few days’ time.

Anyone who regularly utilizes the town’s most highly-traveled highway will want to keep this in mind, as the project is expected to have a significant impact on traffic.

The Nevada Department of Transportation is spending just shy of $2 million to give a one-mile section of Highway 160 a facelift, with the roadway to be milled and repaved over the course of the next month. Receiving the contract to complete the work was Aggregate Industries of Las Vegas.

Construction was originally scheduled to commence on Monday, June 27 but the start date was pushed back at the request of Zambelli Fireworks, the company that puts on the town’s Fourth of July fireworks show each year. Concerned about the effect that the project would have on the ability of the public to easily access Petrack Park for the event, Eddie O’Brien, of Zambelli, contacted NDOT and asked that the work be delayed in deference to the fireworks show. Amenable to the request, NDOT decided to postpone the project until after the holiday, pegging Monday, July 11 as the new start date.

The cone zone will begin just north of Highway 160 and Highway 372, at the driveway located between the Pahrump Nugget and Super Pawn. Construction will extend northward on the highway to about Boothill Drive, near the Home Depot. Throughout the next four or five weeks, lane closures will see the highway reduced to just one lane per direction and major congestion is anticipated.

As always, state officials urge motorists to exercise caution and patience when traveling through the construction zone.

The Highway 160 improvement project is expected to wrap up in approximately 30 days, sometime in mid-August.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com