Highway building is seen as part of the I-15/ Tropicana job near West Harmon Avenue in Las Vegas, Friday, March 17, 2023. (Erik Verduzco/ Las Vegas Review-Journal)Highway building is seen as part of the I-15/ Tropicana task near West Harmon Avenue in Las Vegas, Friday, March 17, 2023. (Erik Verduzco/ Las Vegas Review-Journal)Highway building is seen as part of the I-15/ Tropicana project near West Harmon Avenue in Las Vegas, Friday, March 17, 2023.
Drivers seeking to access the Strip from Interstate 15 are about to get a new choice. Or, a minimum of a partial one.

Work began last week on a half interchange from I-15 southbound to the Harmon Avenue bridge, as part of the $305 million I-15/ Tropicana Avenue interchange task.

Motorists will only be able to access Harmon from I-15 southbound and those taking a trip on Harmon will just be able to get in the freeway on its northbound lanes. Harmon has long been a regional preferred to access the Strip, around the Cosmopolitan/Aria area, without much of the traffic seen on other east-west gain access to points such as Tropicana, Flamingo or Spring Mountain roads.

A brand-new connection with Valley View Boulevard in 2020 enhanced the connection even more, with the I-15 interchange the next stage of Harmon's function in the Resort Corridor's transport system.

" The new HOV half-interchange on the south side of Harmon Avenue need to take pressure off Tropicana and Flamingo by giving motorists another alternative to access the Las Vegas Strip," Nevada Department of Transportation representative Justin Hopkins said. It must likewise help with alleviating traffic in and out of significant occasions at Allegiant Stadium and T-Mobile Arena, he added.

The choice to construct a half interchange at Harmon opposed to a full interchange there or elsewhere along I-15 came after careful consideration by NDOT.

" There were several different plans considered for brand-new interchanges as part of this job, consisting of checking out including a half interchange on the south side of Hacienda," Hopkins said. "There was some consideration given to making Harmon a complete interchange, however our analysis showed Harmon does not have the capability to manage a complete interchange. Harmon is heavily restricted with hotels abutting the right of way on the east side and residences abutting the right of way on the west side, making the acquisition of land to expand Harmon too impactful and for that reason unreasonable.".

Teams will not start the teardown southern part of the Tropicana bridge over I-15 till the half interchange is open to traffic. The north half of the Tropicana bridge was torn down in January as part of the "Dropicana" phase of the I-15-Tropicana project.

The first traffic impacts related to the Harmon half interchange portion of the project began last week and will continue through next month.

Beginning on Monday and running through April 20, I-15 northbound will be down to four lanes in each instructions between Tropicana and Flamingo. Wednesday I-15 southbound will go down to 3 lanes over night between Harmon Avenue and Flamingo Road. The same lane constraints were seen a week prior on the very same stretch of I-15.

Plans call for the brand-new half interchange to be total in the fall, giving all chauffeurs the new gain access to point. When the I-15/ Tropicana interchange job is complete in 2025, those who can access Harmon will change.

" Eventually, that half interchange will be HOV-only," Hopkins kept in mind.

ATM indications.

Another part of the multipronged I-15/ Tropicana job is the addition of 10 brand-new active traffic management indications.

The vibrant messaging signs will resemble the ones added to I-15 throughout Project Neon and will be useful to direct traffic on the freeway during events at Allegiant Stadium.

Five of the signs will be contributed to I-15 southbound and northbound between Warm Springs and Russell roads.

To install those signs the HOV lanes on both sides of I-15 will be shuttered for a month in July.

Extra overnight lane closures will take place for numerous months tied the installation of the signs.

There are also 5 full closures of I-15 northbound and 5 complete closures of I-15 southbound prepared to safely hang the signs over the freeway.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.