With increased development comes increased traffic.  No other city knows this better than Las Vegas right now, where the population is skyrocketing due to construction and development that includes residential, retail, office and of course, more casinos.  Taking the brunt of the increase in both visitors and permanent residents is I-15, which is the chief route running North and South through the heart of Las Vegas.  It has gotten so bad as of late, that during peak traffic times, motorists are considered lucky if they can get in a land driving 25 miles per hour.

Stats released by the Regional Transportation Commission, who conducted a study on the increase of I-15 traffic, revealed that in 2005 the traffic on I-15 averaged 218,000 vehicles per day.  Yet, with only three lanes in each direction for the majority of the freeway, I-15 is only designed to accommodate 130,000 vehicles per day.  It is no wonder that commuters would indeed be fortunate if they could travel over 20 mph in rush hour.  Also reported in the study was the interesting correlation between new hotel rooms and vehicles on the roadway, which states that for every new hotel room that is opened in the casino resort district, there is an increase of 2.3 vehicles a day on I-15.  With an anticipated 75,000 new rooms in Clark County by the end of 2006, that means there will be approximately 100,000 more vehicles per day on I-15.

Realizing the urgency of the situation, the Nevada Department of Transportation recently approved the allocation of $7 million to make an additional travel lane by converting the shoulder lanes in both directions to serve as regular traffic lanes.  Although this will help to alleviate the current condition on the interstate, as more and more casinos and resorts show up on the scene in Las Vegas - and they undoubtedly will - a widening of I-15 will be imminent.