Russell Road project finished

     By Sonya Padgett
     View staff writer
      Southeast-area business owners, drivers and residents can rejoice: The seemingly endless months of construction on Russell Road are over.
      Construction was completed May 5, and if all goes well, the nine-month, $6.2 million makeover is scheduled to be capped off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony today at the new traffic signal on Russell Road and McLeod Drive, said Bobby Shelton, spokesman for Clark County Public Works.
      "It's been a long project for us; there've been some headaches, of course, as with any construction project," Shelton said. "But we did a lot of work."
      "A lot of work" included completely reconstructing the 30-year-old road from Eastern Avenue to Pecos Road, installing storm drain facilities near Mountain Vista Road to help keep water off the road during rain storms, and adding additional lanes, curbs, gutters and a traffic signal.
      "We took the road down to what we call the base and reconstructed it entirely," Shelton said. "It was an old roadway and a lot of people use it on a daily basis. I don't think people realized how much work we were doing."
      Two additional lanes were added in both directions, as well as a center turn lane. The storm drains were installed as part of the Regional Flood Control's valley-wide effort to improve flood channels and reduce flooding.
      Southern Nevada Paving Co. started the $6.2 million project last August. Completion was only five days behind schedule, mainly due to the heavy rains in February that stalled work, Shelton said.
      Over the long run, the hassle of construction was worth the benefits. With the improvements, more cars move more efficiently, thus improving air quality in the area.
      "It's a major inconvenience to people, but overall (the improvements) are a good thing," Shelton said. "We've been trying to improve the infrastructure over the past 15 years, and I think we're better at planning now than we were 15 years ago. But no one anticipated the
     amount of growth the valley would have."
      Jaki Baskow, owner of Baskow and Associates on Russell Road, can vouch for the inconvenience of the construction.
      "It's been a nightmare, I'll tell you that much," Baskow said. "But I'm very glad they're doing the construction. It's the first street people see coming from the airport."
      Four years ago, Baskow went to the County Commission and asked for change in zoning from residential to professional on Russell Road.
      Now Russell is lined with businesses, and the zoning change and subsequent work on Russell Road has doubled property values in the area, Baskow said.
      "It was looking like the ghetto," Baskow said. "Something needed to be done. I commend the county (for) doing it, because it's going to be good for the valley."