Cyclists riding the 215 Beltway Trail through the west side of the Las Vegas Valley have long faced a nerve-wracking choice at Charleston Boulevard: wait for a signal, then pedal across eight lanes of traffic where the busy street meets the freeway. Clark County is now digging an underpass meant to make that choice disappear for good, part of a broader push to route trail users beneath the roads instead of across them.
The Beltway Bike Trail runs along 30 miles of the 215 Freeway, which itself spans 50 miles around three-quarters of the Las Vegas Valley, according to FOX5 Vegas. Along that stretch, there are two spots on the west side of the valley where cyclists are currently forced to cross two major arterials, the station reports. Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones said the county is building underpasses so cyclists on the trail can bypass the roads altogether, and the Charleston project specifically will eliminate the need for cyclists to cross Charleston Boulevard at the 215.
Tunneling Beneath an 8-Lane Chokepoint
“No longer will the days where you have to cross 8 lanes of traffic along this stretch of Charleston Boulevard at the 215,” Jones said, per the same FOX5 Vegas report. The undercrossing sits just west of Interstate 215 and will eliminate the trail's at-grade crossing at that intersection entirely, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Work on the broader project kicked off on Nov. 3 at the Charleston-215 intersection, with additional construction near Peace Way and Fort Apache Road, the paper reported.
The project also includes roughly 1,635 feet of new trail connecting existing segments south of Peace Way to the segment north of Fort Apache Road, according to a construction solicitation filed with BidNet Direct. That filing describes a concrete trail, retaining walls and fencing, ramps, a pedestrian bridge, storm drain improvements, landscape grading, road re-striping and construction traffic control as part of the scope of work. The Review-Journal separately reported the project is expected to take less than a year to finish, with completion slated for summer, while LVSportsBiz reported that contractor Las Vegas Paving is supposed to complete the job within 180 calendar days of the notice to proceed.
A Price Tag That Depends on Who You Ask
Exactly how much taxpayers are spending is unclear, with sources giving different figures. The Review-Journal put the cost of the Summerlin-area upgrade at $18.6 million, the same figure cited by FOX5 Vegas in describing the underpass project, while LVSportsBiz reported that Clark County commissioners approved $18.7 million specifically for the trail undercrossing beneath Charleston Boulevard.
That price has drawn pushback. Critics of the project say it is a waste of money when pedestrians and cyclists can already use existing signalized intersection crosswalks at Fort Apache and Peace Way, along with the signal at Charleston Boulevard and the 215, FOX5 Vegas reported. Jones defended the spending as taxpayer-funded work intended to improve roadway safety, telling the station that separated paths help people who are uncomfortable riding on roads feel safe using the trail. The beltway trail, along with other trails around the valley, already offers separation between vehicles and bikes, Jones noted, and the underpasses are meant to extend that separation to the trail's most dangerous crossings.
Part of a Wider Valley-Wide Buildout
The Charleston work is one piece of a larger expansion of the trail network. Clark County's five-mile portion of the Western Beltway Trail connects to the city of Las Vegas's North Western Beltway Trail to form a 23-mile-long trail running from Tropicana in the west valley to Decatur Boulevard in the northwest, according to the Review-Journal. A new bridge over the 215 at Peace Way was completed in late June, the paper reported, and North Las Vegas has its own plans to extend the trail from Decatur Boulevard to Losee Road in two phases.
Not every crossing along the corridor has drawn praise even where improvements already exist. Cyclists have separately criticized the current Charleston crossing design, telling 8 News Now that the trail leads riders right into right-turning traffic. Clark County has said it plans to enhance the busy Charleston Boulevard and 215 intersections to make them safer for pedestrians and the bicycling community who use the Western Beltway Trail, and the county released renderings earlier this year of a pedestrian and bike path planned for the Summerlin area, according to FOX5 Vegas's April coverage, describing the design as intended to improve safety and accessibility for people walking and biking.
