The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) reopened a flood-ravaged section of U.S. Highway 93 at mile marker 23.5, near the southern tip of Upper Pahranagat Lake, at 11:58 a.m., July 16, in Lincoln County, an area known by locals as the Narrows. Around the same time, a smaller segment of State Route 168 (Glendale-Moapa Road) at Interstate 15 was reopened.
A press release said, “Torrential rain and mudslides closed the roadways around 10 p.m., July 14, leaving behind a 10-foot-tall, 30-foot-wide earthen deposit across U.S. Highway 93 measuring 1,000-foot-long or the equivalent of nearly three football fields laid end-to-end. In response, two-dozen workers and equipment operators utilized a fleet of six front wheel loaders, a motor grader, nine tractor-trailers, and a bulldozer to move over 17,000 cubic yards of material – a feat that required over 600 truck trips.”
The National Weather Service reported July 14 was the fourth day south-central Lincoln County and northeastern Clark County had rain or thunderstorms, which eventually resulted in the massive mudslide.
The NDOT said, “Additionally, crews lined each side of the 30-foot-wide roadway with a V-shaped earthen channel, partly safeguarding against future flooding. The stretch of impacted rural highway averages over 3,000 vehicles daily.”
Lincoln County NDOT supervisor Jared Morley said they had to hire a private contractor, Aggregate Industries of Las Vegas, “to do much of the work because they had more of the heavy earth-moving equipment necessary for the job, but our own local crews did a lot of the work ourselves as well.”
Aggregate Industries SWR Inc. was the emergency response general contractor, aided by department maintenance staff. The total repair cost is about $50,000.
NDOT district engineer Mario Gomez said, “Our dedicated staff and contractor worked overtime, coming together as a team to safely and quickly to reopen these two critical highway segments to the traveling public.”
During the closure, U.S. 93 northbound traffic was detoured via Interstate 15 to Utah and vice versa for southbound U.S. 93 traffic. Some traffic was also routed over to Tonopah and down U.S. 95 southbound.
The northbound closure of the highway northeast of Las Vegas began at I-15; the southbound closure began in Caliente, according to Nevada Highway Patrol.
The event brought back memories of September 2014 when flash floods washed out a section of I-15 east of Las Vegas, causing all traffic to be rerouted through Lincoln County on U.S. 93 or State Route 319. It was estimated 73,000 vehicles passed through Lincoln County in a 72-hour span while the freeway was being repaired.