The Nevada Department of Transportation awarded a $16.5 million contract to Aggregate Industries SWR Inc. to be used for a five-mile widening of State Route 160 in southwest Clark County just east of Mountain Springs.
The project will widen the highway from two travel lanes to four travel lanes between mile marker 10.89 (just past State Route 159 or the Red Rock Canyon Road junction) and mile marker 16.63.
The highway is the main and fastest route to Pahrump from Clark County
Improvements include flattening side slope shoulders for safer vehicle turnouts, while installing new drainage pipe and tortoise fencing. Other work consists of placing barrier and guardrails as well as hydro-seeding 38 acres.
Construction will involve moving enough dirt to fill 1,800 average-sized swimming pools and enough asphalt to pave 8,000 driveways.
The stretch of road has seen its share of vehicle crashes, with many of those resulting in fatalities.
In a five-year crash study, NDOT found that the stretch of road between mile marker 11 and mile marker 22 saw an average crash rate almost double the rate for the average NDOT maintained rural principal arterial.
There were 280 crashes that occurred on this section of Highway 160 for the five-year study period. Of those, 195 were non-collision (ran off the road) crashes.There were 109 injury crashes with 148 injuries and 10 fatal crashes with 12 fatalities, NDOT said. Seven of the fatalities came from the non-collision crashes.The area of road has seen increased patrol by the Nevada Highway Patrol, who held a traffic saturation in July, aimed at promoting safer driving habits. The saturation resulted in 349 traffic citations being handed out during the over two-week operation.The project is scheduled for completion in early 2017, and during construction the speed limit will be lowered to 55 mph. One lane will remain open at all times.
Motorists should use caution while traveling through the work zone, heed construction signage, and take alternate routes, if possible, as travel delays are likely. For current road information or to keep up with the Highway 160 project, log onto to www.nvroads.com.
Contact reporter Mick Akers at makers@pvtimes.com. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.