Harry Reid Airport Connector

Last updated
Nevada 171.svg
State Route 171
Airport Spur Connector
Harry Reid Airport Connector
Harry Reid Airport Connector highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NDOT
Length0.685 mi [1]  (1,102 m)
Existed1994–present
Major junctions
South endI-215.svg I-215 in Paradise
North endNevada 562.svg SR 562 in Paradise
Highway system
  • Highways in Nevada
Nevada 170.svg SR 170 Nevada 172.svg SR 172

The Harry Reid Airport Connector (RAC) is a limited-access roadway system located in Paradise, an unincorporated town in the Las Vegas Valley, Clark County, Nevada, United States. Composed of State Route 171 (SR 171), the Airport Tunnel and arterial streets, the airport connector provides vehicular access to the passenger terminals at Harry Reid International Airport. Despite being completely owned by Clark County, the first 0.685 miles (1.102 km) of the Harry Reid Airport Connector is maintained by NDOT as unsigned SR 171, while the remaining section is maintained by Clark County. [1]

Contents

The Harry Reid Airport Connector was constructed and opened to traffic in 1994, in conjunction with the completion of I-215 between Interstate 15 and Warm Springs Road.

Route description

View northbound along SR 171 at Sunset Road 2015-11-04 16 40 10 View north along the McCarran Airport Connector (Nevada State Route 171) at Sunset Road (Nevada State Route 562) in Paradise, Nevada.jpg
View northbound along SR 171 at Sunset Road

The Harry Reid Airport Connector begins at an interchange with Interstate 215 (exit 10) in Paradise. From there, the route follows unsigned State Route 171 as it transitions to a below-ground freeway alignment. The connector crosses underneath several local streets and a branch line of the Union Pacific Railroad as it heads northward towards the airport. SR 171 encounters a half-diamond interchange with Sunset Road (SR 562), where the state highway designation ends 0.685 miles (1.102 km) at the south portal of the airport tunnel. [1]

The Airport Tunnel is a grouping of three separate tunnels. One tunnel is provided for northbound traffic with another for southbound traffic, and third tunnel between them is reserved for future transit use. The tunnels continue northward, crossing under the eastwest runways and taxiways of the airport and emerging on the opposite side.

Curving westward after exiting the north portal, the RAC meets the main terminal grounds with ramps providing terminal access to and from the south. The freeway grade road ends with a traffic signal at Russell Road. North of the signal, the connector transitions to a one-way couplet network, with northbound traffic following University Center Drive (formerly Swenson Street) and southbound traffic using Paradise Road. Another set of ramps provides airport terminal access to and from the north. Finally, the Harry Reid Airport Connector ends at Tropicana Avenue (SR 593), although the one-way roads continue north for about a mile to Harmon Avenue.

In addition to providing access to the airport, the connector also serves as a shortcut between I-215 and Tropicana Avenue (SR 593) near the Thomas & Mack Center on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) campus. Also, following the relocation of McCarran Airport's car rental facilities to a new, centralized complex at 7135 Gilespie Street, SR 171 and the tunnel are now used by all shuttle buses carrying customers between the main passenger terminals and the rental car facility.

History

SR 171 and the Airport Tunnel opened to traffic in 1994, in conjunction with the completion of I-215 between Interstate 15 and Warm Springs Road. [2]

Major intersections

The entire route is in Paradise, Clark County. All exits are unnumbered.

mi [1] kmDestinationsNotes
0.000.00I-215.svg I-215 west Las Vegas Southern terminus of SR 171/MAC
Hidden Well Road, Gilespie Street – Rental Car ReturnSouthbound exit and northbound entrance
Warm Springs RoadSouthbound exit and northbound entrance
I-215.svg I-215 east Henderson Southbound exit and northbound entrance; I-215 exit 10
0.6851.102Sunset Road (SR 562)Northbound exit and southbound entrance; northern terminus of SR 171
Airport Tunnel
Airport Sign.svg Terminals 1 & 3Northbound exit and southbound entrance
Airport Sign.svg Terminal 3 (Flight Path Avenue)
Kitty Hawk WayAccess to former Terminal 2; intersection southbound; northbound access was via Terminal 1 exit
Airport Sign.svg Terminal 1Southbound exit and northbound entrance
Tropicana Avenue (SR 593) At-grade intersection; northern terminus of MAC; NB lanes continue as University Center Drive (formerly Swenson Street); Paradise Road feeds into SB lanes
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

Related Research Articles

Harry Reid International Airport Airport near Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Harry Reid International Airport, is an international airport in Paradise, Nevada, and is the main government airport for public use in the Las Vegas Valley, a metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Nevada, about 5 miles (8 km) south of Downtown Las Vegas. The airport is owned by the Clark County Commission and operated by the Clark County Department of Aviation. It is named after former U.S. Senator Harry Reid, a member of the Democratic Party. LAS covers 2,800 acres (11.3 km2) of land.

Interstate 515 (I-515) is a 14.444-mile-long (23.245 km) spur route of I-15 in the US state of Nevada that runs from the junction of I-11, I-215, and State Route 564 (SR 564) at the Spaghetti Bowl Interchange in Henderson to the junction of I-15, U.S. Route 93 (US 93), and US 95 at the Las Vegas Spaghetti Bowl Interchange in Downtown Las Vegas. The freeway connects traffic headed from Boulder City and Henderson to Downtown Las Vegas via a direct, high-speed route, and it runs concurrently with both US 93 and US 95 along its entire length.

Massachusetts Route 1A

Route 1A is a north–south state highway in Massachusetts. It is an alternate route to U.S. 1 with three signed sections and two unsigned sections where the highway is concurrent with its parent. Due to the reconfiguration of tunnel interchanges brought on by the completion of the Big Dig, Route 1A is discontinuous in the downtown Boston area. Vehicles entering Downtown Boston via the Sumner Tunnel must take I-93 north to the exit for Government Center and make a U-turn to access the entrance ramp to I-93 south and vice versa.

Southern California freeways Freeway system

The Southern California freeways are a vast network of interconnected freeways in the megaregion of Southern California, serving a population of 23 million people. The Master Plan of Metropolitan Los Angeles Freeways was adopted by the Regional Planning Commission in 1947 and construction began in the early 1950s. The plan hit opposition and funding limitations in the 1970s, and by 2004, only some 61% of the original planned network had been completed.

California State Route 259 Highway in California

State Route 259 is a short unsigned state highway in the U.S. state of California that serves as a freeway connector between Interstate 215 and State Route 210 in San Bernardino. It has one complete exit and one partial exit. Any signage along the route, Highland Avenue and E Street either mentions "To I-215 south" or "To SR 210 east", not SR 259.

The Tropicana – Las Vegas Boulevard intersection on the Las Vegas Strip, is noteworthy for several reasons. It was the first intersection in Las Vegas completely closed to street level pedestrian traffic and its four corners are home to four major resorts: Excalibur Hotel and Casino, Tropicana Las Vegas, New York-New York Hotel and Casino and MGM Grand Las Vegas—the latter has 5,044 rooms and was once the largest hotel in the world. The resorts at the four corners have a total of 12,536 hotel rooms as of 2016.

The Las Vegas Beltway is a 50-mile (80 km) beltway route circling three-quarters of the Las Vegas Valley in southern Nevada. The Las Vegas Beltway carries two numerical designations. Approximately 12.8 miles (20.6 km) of the highway, from its southern terminus at Interstate 11 (I-11) / I-515 / U.S. Route 93 (US 93) / US 95 in Henderson west and northwest to I-15, is signed as Interstate 215 (I-215) and maintained by the Nevada Department of Transportation. Clark County Route 215 (CC 215) composes the remaining 37.2 miles (59.9 km) of this semi-circumferential highway, with the county's Department of Public Works responsible for all construction and maintenance.

Interstate 215 (I-215), also known locally as the Belt Route, is an auxiliary Interstate in the U.S. state of Utah that forms a 270-degree loop around Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs. The route begins at the mouth of Parley's Canyon at a junction with I-80 east of the city center, and heads south through the edge of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area's eastern suburbs of Millcreek, Holladay, and Cottonwood Heights. It continues west through Murray before turning north again, passing through the city's first-ring western suburbs of Taylorsville and West Valley City. It then enters North Salt Lake and Davis County for a short distance before reaching I-15 northwest of the city center.

State Road 826 is a bypass route around the greater Miami area, traveling approximately 30 miles (48 km) in a northeasterly arc from U.S. Route 1 in Pinecrest to its terminus at State Road A1A in Sunny Isles Beach. Between its southern terminus and the Golden Glades Interchange, State Road 826 is known as the Palmetto Bypass Expressway, a heavily traveled freeway with portions of the road carrying in excess of 250,000 vehicles a day. Unlike many of the other non-interstate freeways in Miami-Dade County, the Palmetto Bypass Expressway is untolled. East of the interchange, State Road 826 is a surface road connecting North Miami and North Miami Beach to Sunny Isles Beach over the Intracoastal Waterway.

Interstate 95 (I-95) in Maryland is a major highway that runs 109.01 miles (175.43 km) diagonally from southwest to northeast, entering from the District of Columbia and Virginia at the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, to Maryland's border with Delaware. It is also the longest interstate highway within Maryland. The route is one of the most traveled Interstate Highways in Maryland, especially between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., despite alternate routes along the corridor, such as the Baltimore–Washington Parkway, U.S. Route 1, and US 29. Portions of the highway, including the Fort McHenry Tunnel and the Millard E. Tydings Memorial Bridge, are tolled.

Interstate 95 (I-95) is an Interstate highway running from Miami, Florida, north to Houlton, Maine. In the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, it runs 44.25 miles (71.21 km) from the Delaware state line near Marcus Hook in Delaware County northeast to the Delaware River–Turnpike Toll Bridge at the New Jersey state line near Bristol in Bucks County. From the Delaware state line to exit 40, the route is known by many as the Delaware Expressway, but is officially named the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway. North of exit 40, I-95 runs along the easternmost portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike; this portion of road is not signed as part of the turnpike. I-95 parallels its namesake Delaware River for its entire route through the city of Philadelphia and its suburbs. It is a major route through the city and the metropolitan Delaware Valley, providing access to locally important landmarks such as Subaru Park, Philadelphia International Airport, the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, Penn's Landing, and Philadelphia Mills.

Tropicana Avenue is a major east–west section line arterial in the Las Vegas area. The road is named after Tropicana Las Vegas which is located on the Las Vegas Boulevard where it intersects with Tropicana Avenue. Part of it is signed as Nevada State Route 593.

Russell Road is a section line road within the Las Vegas Valley of Clark County, Nevada. It is no longer a continuous road through the valley, as McCarran International Airport interrupts its right of way. The eastern section terminates at the eastern edge of the airport, with the road resuming at Las Vegas Boulevard on the western edge of the airport. The intersection of Russell Road and Las Vegas Boulevard is often considered to mark the southern terminus of the Las Vegas Strip.

State Route 439 is a four-lane state highway in Lyon, Storey and Washoe Counties in Nevada. Better known as USA Parkway, the route connects U.S. Route 50 in Silver Springs to Interstate 80 (I-80) in Clark via the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center (TRIC). The northern portion of USA Parkway was initially constructed by the industrial center's developers; however, the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) agreed to assume control of the road after Tesla announced plans to build its Gigafactory at TRIC in 2014. NDOT opened the extension of SR 439 south to US 50 in Lyon County on September 8, 2017.

Interstate 15 (I-15) is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Nevada that begins in Primm, continues through Las Vegas and it crosses the border with Arizona in Mesquite. Within the state, the freeway runs entirely in Clark County. The highway was built along the corridor of the older U.S. Route 91 (US 91) and Arrowhead Trail, eventually replacing both of these roads.

The JFK Expressway is a short freeway connecting the Belt Parkway with John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York City. It interchanges with the Nassau Expressway near the former proposed south end of the Clearview Expressway. The roadway is the newest expressway in New York City, opened in December 1991.

Airport Connector is a typical name for roads connecting major highways to airports. It may refer to:

The Centennial Bowl is the colloquial name for an under-construction freeway interchange in Las Vegas, in the U.S. state of Nevada, in the Centennial Hills neighborhood. It currently serves U.S. Route 95 (US 95) and Clark County Route 215 and two US 95 frontage roads; Oso Blanca Road and Sky Pointe Drive. After completion of the interchange in 2024, CC 215 will be upgraded to freeway standards from its southern terminus at the Henderson Bowl to Range Road in North Las Vegas at the northern terminus interchange construction, and Interstate 11 (I-11) will follow the route of US 95 from its current northern terminus at the Henderson Bowl to State Route 157.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Nevada Department of Transportation (January 2019). "State Maintained Highways of Nevada: Descriptions and Maps" . Retrieved January 26, 2019.
  2. "NDOT News, Spring 2006" (PDF). Nevada Department of Transportation. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-19.

Route map:

KML file (edithelp)
    KML is from Wikidata