New I-15 interchange facilitates access to industrial park; new truck stop

A bridge elevation drawing showing the design of new interchange at Exit 118 and I-15 in Mesquite, Nevada | Image courtesy of City of Mesquite

ST. GEORGE — A groundbreaking Wednesday morning will celebrate the construction of a new interchange at Exit 118 on Interstate 15 in Mesquite, Nevada, that will improve safety and provide easier access for large trucks.

The project will consist of a four-lane bridge over I-15 as well as a new four-lane approach roadway north of the I-15 corridor between the new bridge and West Pioneer Boulevard.

The interchange will divert traffic from local roads and offer heavy trucks and other travelers access to a planned truck stop and the city’s industrial park, both of which are expected to help the area’s economy, Mayor Al Litman said. Litman is also a board member of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada.

Mesquite is in the process of selling a 105-acre property near the new interchange to Pilot Flying J, Litman said, with plans for a truck stop/travel center and possibly a hotel. There are no truck stops in Mesquite now, he said.

“There’s nothing between Love’s (Travel Stop), two-thirds (of the way) down to Vegas, and St. George,” Litman said. “It’s probably going to be well-utilized, I think.”

Improvements to the I-15 Exit 120 interchange, which serves Mesquite’s casinos, were completed about four years ago, Litman said, and are working well.

“But,” he said, “they’re not set up to go into the industrial parks and they’re not set up for heavy truck traffic.”

The new interchange at Exit 118 will provide access to the city’s 800-acre Mesquite Technology and Commerce Center, Litman said.

“It should bring some more development to that area.”

The industrial park is the location of numerous technology, industrial, distribution and manufacturing businesses with plenty of room left to grow, Litman said.

One large tenant of the industrial park, the Do It Best Corporation distribution center, will benefit from the new interchange.

For them not to have to use the roundabout would be a blessing, of course,” Litman said.

The Do It Best Corporation is a large cooperative of hardware stores, home centers and lumberyards. The Mesquite distribution center is one of eight in the U.S.

The interchange project will provide 190 jobs during construction, Litman said, and the project is expected to be completed by late June 2016. Construction should cause only minimal traffic disruption.

The $15 million project will be paid for by Nevada Department of Transportation and fuel revenue indexing funds. Fuel revenue indexing funds come from a gasoline surcharge that costs an average driver in Clark County, Nevada, just 10 cents a day, according to the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada.

Event details

  • What: Groundbreaking for new I-15 interchange at Exit 118 in Mesquite, Nevada
  • When: Dec. 2 at 10:30 a.m.
  • Where: Approximately 0.25 miles south of Cimarron Court, Mesquite

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