Interstate 11 (I-11) is a northwest-southeast Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Nevada that currently follows U.S. Route 93 (US 93) and US 95 between Boulder City and Henderson. It is tentatively planned to run from Nogales, Arizona, to Reno, Nevada, along the current routes of I-19, I-10, US 93 and US 95. The bulk of the route is still the early discussion and planning stages, an exact route has yet to be determined. A number of recommended corridor alternatives have been identified.
As originally proposed in the 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, the highway would only run from Casa Grande, Arizona, to Las Vegas, Nevada, via Kingman and Buckeye, Arizona. This was to provide a direct Interstate link between the Las Vegas and Phoenix metropolitan areas, which are currently the two largest adjacent American cities lacking a direct freeway link. However, extensions to the corridor towards Reno and south towards Tuscon have since been approved.
The proposed numbering of the highway does not fit within the usual conventions of the existing Interstate Highway grid, as, at least in the initial phase south of Las Vegas, it would be completely east of I-15 and should therefore have a number greater than 15. But I-17 was already built to the east of the I-11 alignment in Arizona, making it impossible to fit this freeway into the national grid without violating the traditional numbering convention. The subsequent plan to extend the Interstate north of Las Vegas to Reno would, if constructed, put that segment of I-11 west of I-15 and thus in line with the national grid numbering conventions.
Video Interstate 11
Route description
Arizona
The southern terminus of the freeway would be at Interstate 19 Business Loop in Nogales, Arizona concurrent with that of I-19 proper. The freeway would then join I-10 in Tucson and continue to Casa Grande.
At or near the interchange with I-8 and I-10 in Casa Grande, the freeway would split from I-10 and travel in a generally westward and then northward direction as a bypass route around the Phoenix metropolitan area. Two general corridor alternatives have been identified for this bypass section. One recommended alternative would have the highway running concurrently with I-8 west to Gila Bend, turning north at or near the existing intersection with Arizona State Route 85. The highway would then run concurrently with AZ 85 to its intersection with I-10 in Buckeye before turning west to run concurrently with I-10 for some miles. The second recommended alternative would have the highway run concurrently with I-8 east to an intersection with either Loop 303 or the Hassayampa Freeway, and then follow some combination of those highways, Arizona State Route 30, or AZ 85 to an intersection with I-10 in or near Buckeye.
North of I-10 near Buckeye, the study has identified a general corridor roughly parallel to the Hassayampa River with two more specific corridor alignments. The first would create a new highway running north to the US 60/SR 74 intersection in Morristown before turning northwest to run concurrently with US 60 to its intersection with US 93 in Wickenburg, thereafter running concurrently with US 93 to the northwest. The second alignment would follow the alignment of the Hassayampa Freeway as proposed by the Maricopa Association of Governments to an intersection with US 93 northwest of Wickenburg in Yavapai County.
The highway would then run concurrently with US 93 through northern Arizona, including a concurrency with I-40 in and near Kingman. The highway would then cross the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge into Nevada.
Nevada
In Nevada, the highway will run on the 15-mile (24 km) Boulder City Bypass around Boulder City, which is presently under construction, intersecting and running concurrently with US 93/US 95. Upon completion of Phase 2 of the Boulder City Bypass in 2018, which will be signed as I-11, US 93, and US 95, the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) has said it will redesignate the entire length of I-515 southeast of the I-215 (Las Vegas Beltway) in and through Henderson as I-11 (with the two U.S. Highways remaining co-signed along that route as well).
Three alternative corridors have been identified for the highway's route through the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The first would have the highway running west and then north along the Las Vegas Beltway around the core of the metropolitan area. The highway would leave the route of the Beltway in northwestern Las Vegas, heading northward to near the intersection of US 95 and State Route 157 (SR 157). The second alternative has the highway following I-515/US 93/US 95 to downtown Las Vegas, then running concurrently with US 95 to its intersection with SR 157 to the northwest. The third alternative leaves US 93/US 95 near Railroad Pass and runs north along a new route east of the Las Vegas Valley to an intersection with I-15/US 93 in or near North Las Vegas. The highway would then run concurrently with I-15/US 93 to the southwest until the intersection with the Las Vegas Beltway in North Las Vegas, then following the beltway west to an intersection with US 95 and finally running concurrently with US 95 to the northwest to its intersection with SR 157. Under the original proposal, all three alternatives would have had the highway's northern terminus be at or near the intersection of US 95 and SR 157. However, in 2015 Congress extended the freeway's corridor designation to include all of US 95 up to I-80 near Reno.
Maps Interstate 11
History
As recently as 1997, US 93 was mostly a two-lane road between Phoenix and Las Vegas, and was known for its dangerous curves and hills in the stretch between Wickenburg and I-40. In the late 1990s, ADOT began widening US 93 to four lanes, and in some areas building a completely new roadway. In other places along the route, ADOT simply repaved the old highway and built two new lanes parallel to it. ADOT also began studying the possibility of adding grade separations to US 93 near the Santa Maria River to make the road a full freeway.
At the same time Nevada and Arizona began looking at US 93's crossing of Hoover Dam, a major bottleneck for regional commerce, with hairpin turns, multiple crosswalks for pedestrians and steep grades. Plans for a bridge to bypass the dam became even more urgent when the road was closed to trucks after September 11, 2001, forcing commercial traffic to detour through Bullhead City, Arizona, and Laughlin, Nevada, causing major transport delays as a result.
With the completion of the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge in October 2010, the vast majority of the roadway is now a four-lane divided highway. Still, with Phoenix and Las Vegas as the two largest neighboring cities in the United States not connected by Interstate Highway, leaders in both cities lobbied to include I-11 in the next Transportation Equity Act reauthorization. With the rise of the concept of "megapolitan" urban regions, I-11 is considered a key connector to unify the triangle formed by Las Vegas, Phoenix, and the Los Angeles area (the triangle consisting of I-15 to the north/west, I-10 to the south and I-11 on the east). The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) approved NDOT's environmental review of a bypass around Boulder City, which would connect the end of the recently constructed Hoover Dam Bypass bridge east of Boulder City to I-515 west of the town.
In December 2013, UNLV researchers discovered naturally occurring asbestos in the area that the Boulder City bypass was going to be constructed in. Containing the asbestos and monitoring the surrounding air to keep workers safe was estimated to cost at least an additional $12 million dollars. Work was subsequently completed on the project without a single asbestos related incident as defined by OSHA, with somewhere in the neighborhood of 14,000 air samples taken during the construction.
On March 21, 2014, signs for I-11 were installed along the US 93 corridor, marking the official involvement of both Nevada's and Arizona's governors to fully build the Interstate.
On August 16, 2017, the first southbound segment was opened to traffic, with its accompanying northbound segment opening on January 27, 2018. On February 20, 2018, NDOT opened additional ramps connecting the new Railroad Pass Casino Road to both the Boulder City Parkway (current US 93 and US 95) and to I-11 (southbound exit and northbound entrance). The final portion of Phase 1, between the new casino access road and US 95, opened on May 23, 2018.
The first segment of Phase 2 opened to traffic on June 7, 2018, with the rest of Phase 2 scheduled to be completed by July.
Current status
As of May 2018, the only completed sections of I-11 are the Hoover Dam Bypass bridge and Phase 1 of the Boulder City Bypass. Phase 2, which began construction in April 2015, was expected to open by October 2018; however, in May 2018, the RTC announced that the section would be open by June 2018, three months ahead of schedule. Once built, the Nevada portion of the I-11 corridor will soon be a full freeway from northwestern Las Vegas to the Hoover Dam which meets current Interstate Highway standards. All other sections of the corridor are in Arizona, like the 71 miles (114 km) of US 93 south of Hoover Dam, which is now a four-lane route from Kingman to the Hoover Dam. However, some portions of the corridor in Arizona are not built to Interstate Highway standards, as there are scattered at-grade intersections, substandard roadway widths, substandard medians, and other deficiencies. Part of the dual roadways are repaved, restriped sections of very-old parts of US 93. Farther south, a direct interchange with US 93 and I-40 is planned that will eliminate the bottleneck at Beale Street in Kingman.
Funding
The funding bill for the United States Department of Transportation, which replaced stopgaps that expired on June 30, 2012, officially designated I-11.
This bill sped up funding for studying, engineering, and possibly building the highway, but it could still take a decade or two to complete. The high price tag makes I-11 in Arizona a leading candidate to become Arizona's first toll road. The legislature passed a law in 2009 that opened the door for private investors to team up with ADOT.
In July 2012, Nevada's Transportation Board awarded $2.5 million in contracts to a team of consultants to study I-11's feasibility and its environmental and economic consequences.
Tucson extension plans
Officials in Pima County, Arizona, support an extension of the planned I-11 from Casa Grande which would wrap southwest of the Tucson Mountains before meeting with I-19 in Sahuarita, south of Tucson, and continuing east to I-10. Over 800 residents have signed a petition opposing that west-side by-pass because it would impact the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, the Saguaro National Park and the Ironwood Forest National Monument. They recommend instead that the I-11 segment be built on top of the existing I-10 route through Tucson. The additional segment would create the Tucson bypass route identified as a critical need by ADOT based upon I-10 traffic projections. Supporters of the extension cite tremendous economic benefit to the Tucson region.
Long-term corridor plans
I-11 was previously projected to serve as an Intermountain West part of the US's long-term CANAMEX Corridor transportation plans, with potential extensions south from Casa Grande to the Sonoran border, and north from Las Vegas through northern Nevada (potentially passing through Reno or Elko) and onward through either eastern Oregon-Washington or western Idaho before terminating at the Canadian border. As of December 2015, I-11 is projected to become the Intermountain West Corridor, extending from Phoenix and Las Vegas through Reno to the Pacific Northwest via central or eastern Oregon and central Washington. Feasibility studies for these corridor extensions began in July 2013 and were published in November 2014.
The proposal to extend I-11 to the Reno area was supported by both of Nevada's U.S. Senators, Harry Reid and Dean Heller, as well as the rest of Nevada's delegation to the U.S. Congress. Heller stated that connecting the Phoenix area with Las Vegas and Northern Nevada would "spur long-term economic development, create jobs, and bolster international trade". The 2015 FAST Act gave Congressional approval to the proposed extensions in Nevada and Arizona, but not to extensions north of I-80 in Reno.
The Reno City Council was informed of potential I-11 corridor plans in March 2018. These include a route through Yerington that roughly parallels SR 208 until just before the Topaz Lake area, then takes a new route into Gardnerville and Minden before meeting up with current I-580 in Carson City, which it follows to its terminus of I-80 in Reno. The other potential corridors stick closer to US 95, with one following US 95 Alt. through Silver Springs to meet I-80 in Fernley, while another would take a new route east of Silver Springs to Fernley, meeting current US 50 Alt. west of Fallon which would then go to I-80 in Fernley. Another proposed route would go east of Mina and Luning and go north through Salt Wells before meeting US 95 north of Fallon which then meets I-80 farther up on north. Other minor alterations to these routes were also shown.
Exit list
The entire route is in Clark County.
See also
- Future Interstate Highways
References
External links
- I-11 and Intermountain West Corridor Study
- I-11 Design-Build Project around Boulder City
- Boulder City Bypass
- Hoover Dam Bypass, from the Internet Archive
- Tucson Bypass, Pima County government study
- Route map from the Phoenix Business Journal
- Sonoran Institute's Proposed Interstate 11 Analysis: Casa Grande to the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, 2014
Source of article : Wikipedia
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