Up and down and up again. This isn’t describing the stock market — it’s the many long-discussed ways planners have considered revamping the Tropicana Avenue/University Center Drive intersection.
But after eight years of planning, multiple revisions and continued dialogue between Clark County and UNLV officials, it appears an agreed-upon project is ready to inch closer to construction.
Initial plans
The initial plans for the busy intersection, which receives passenger traffic traveling between Harry Reid International Airport and the resort corridor as well as traffic between UNLV and the Thomas & Mack Center, were initially floated in 2018 as an elevated expressway project.
A bridge would have carried northbound traffic on University Center Drive (then named Swenson Street), over Tropicana and would stretch just past the Thomas & Mack.
Underground version
In 2019, another plan emerged after UNLV officials expressed concerns about what an overpass would do to the visibility of the campus, mainly the Thomas & Mack. A diverging diamond interchange with portions of Tropicana set to be built below ground was the result. The DDI plan required significant infrastructure work, including building seven bridges over portions of the below-grade Tropicana, potential groundwater issues and the relocation of a ride-hailing staging lot west of the Thomas & Mack.
Revised DDI
In 2023, revised DDI plans proposed putting portions of westbound Tropicana underneath the University Center Drive intersection, leaving the eastbound portion at-grade.
The revised below-grade options came in at an estimated cost of $210 million during a cost analysis in 2025 and would have eliminated two Regional Transportation Commission bus stops and relocated five more on Tropicana, in addition to creating the need to relocate various utilities.
The price tag and the RTC impacts led the county to revisit the elevated expressway option, but with a revised scope.
Modified scope
The county is now ready to move ahead with a modified northbound University Center overpass that is 400 feet shorter than the plan proposed seven years ago and has one less bridge structure.
The plan was presented at last week’s Clark County Commission meeting with an estimated cost of $97 million, less than half the cost of the below-ground version.
The revised overpass makes the Thomas & Mack more visible than the original overpass; it was about 75 percent obscured by the 2018 version of the structure.
The revised overpass would take two years to construct, as opposed to three years for the revised DDI. The updated overpass project would only require the acquisition of 5 acres of Department of Aviation right-of-way, compared with 15 acres for the DDI project.
This time around, after regular contact with the county throughout the process, including an update heard at the May 21 Board of Regents meeting, UNLV is in favor of the above-grade intersection upgrade.
“We appreciate the County’s continued communication and collaboration throughout this process and look forward to seeing this important infrastructure investment move toward construction,” UNLV interim president Chris Heavey said in a statement.
Future Tompkins alignment
In addition to the University Center Drive overpass, a shorter version of that structure will allow for a future east-west road to be constructed, also featuring a bridge, at a later date.
Tompkins Avenue, which runs on a small stretch from Koval Lane near MGM Grand and dead-ends east on the north end of 57 acres UNLV owns along Tropicana, would be extended to near Paradise and University Center to open a new connection to the resort corridor from those traveling from Reid airport.
A future extension of Tompkins would also include a bridge running over Paradise and University Center, leading into the Thomas & Mack, to provide another connection to UNLV.
‘Has been very difficult’
After eight years of planning on the Tropicana/University Center project, Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson is happy there appears to be a path forward to construction on the needed roadway project.
“This hasn’t been a labor of love, this has been very difficult,” Gibson said during last week’s meeting. “We briefed on this every single month for years. The objective was always to unload University Center through the airport area enabling more free-flowing traffic and shorten times between arrival and destination. … I am so relieved that we are finally back to something our wallet is big enough to accommodate.”
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X. Send questions and comments to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com.
