The construction of the Bruce Woodbury Beltway provides an outstanding example of how Clark County is addressing the ever-increasing demands of urban growth. The flexibility of this project makes it unique in that originally, the beltway was to be built incrementally with an ultimate completion date of 2025. The valley's explosive growth, however, caused local officials to reevaluate existing design and construction plans and adopt a new accelerated schedule.

After completing the full 53 miles of the initial Beltway at the end of 2003, Clark County Public Works began the conversion of the initial Beltway to a full-freeway facility. The initial facility includes frontage roads, partial freeway configurations, and an expandable four-lane highway. The full-freeway facility will consist of a divided highway with grade-separated interchanges and cross streets. Signalized intersections will occur only at interchanges. The number of lanes built will depend upon current and future anticipated traffic volumes in each of the segments; however, a minimum of four lanes - two lanes in each direction, will be provided in all locations. Upgrade of the remaining Beltway to full-freeway facility will continue segment-by-segment with final completion scheduled for 2013.

Beltway Updates

In 2005, construction was completed on the Town Center Interchange, a $10 million single-point urban interchange, and the Alta Drive Bridge over the Beltway, a $2.2 million project primarily funded with contributions from the Coast Casinos. During the year, Nevada Department of Transporation also completed work on the interchange of the Beltway with the I-515, for which Clark County Public Works assisted in design and funding efforts.

Construction started during 2005 on full-freeway Beltway upgrades from Buffalo to Sunset and from Sunset to Hualapai. Construction also commenced on a project to widen the Beltway between Pecos and Stephanie to an additional lane in each direction. In 2006, design and construction work will continue to upgrade the Beltway to full-freeway facilities. The ultimate scheduled date of completion is estimated for 2013.