The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) has completed the upgrade of State Route 160 in southwest Clark County, US.

As part of the $59m project, a road section of rural highway was upgraded, which serves as the main travel corridor between Las Vegas and Pahrump.

For this project, SWR served as the general contractor while CA Group was responsible for the design, engineering, and environmental work.

The project involved the widening of a six-mile asphalt highway from two to four travel lanes between Mile Markers 16 and 22.

In addition, 22 miles of deteriorating roadway from the Nye County line to the Mountain Springs community was also rehabilitated.

In a statement, the Nevada DOT said: “Construction, however, proved tricky due to the needed removal of some stubborn fractured bedrock through Mt Potosi for the expanded highway.

“The contracting team consequently undertook 58 blasting events that necessitated temporarily shutting down the highway in both directions, ranging from 30 minutes up to 120 minutes, while crews placed explosives, checked the blast area and cleared any stray rubble and debris.

“North Las Vegas-based blasting subcontractor Sanders Construction used roughly 120,000 total pounds of explosives that helped remove 100,756 cubic yards of material or enough rock and dirt to fill over 30 Olympic-sized swimming pools.”

The project works began in September 2018 and created nearly 300 direct and indirect employment opportunities.

In February 2016, NDOT started testing a new wind warning system on Interstate-580 (I-580), as several accidents occur at this region due to strong winds.