River Cities Business Journal: Construction

Special to the River Cities Business Journal

KINGMAN - State, county, Bullhead City and tribal officials gathered at the Mohave County Administration Building on Jan. 30, to discuss Supervisor Tom Sockwell's proposal to accelerate Vanderslice Road improvements as an alternative route to Highway 95.

The District 2 supervisor brought together representatives from the county's Public Works Department, Traffic Commission and Administration along with Bullhead City, Arizona Department of Transportation and Fort Mojave Tribal officials to discuss the project and seek united support.

Attending the meeting were Sockwell, County Manager Ron Walker, County Public Works Director Mike Hendrix, Public Works Engineer Manager Steven Latoski, County Transportation Commission Chairman Jim Roberts, Commission member Ray Lackey and his wife, Sue, Bullhead City Manager Tim Ernster, John Algots of the Fort Mojave Tribe, Jack Hakim of Bullhead City, Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) Kingman District Engineer Mike Kondelis, ADOT Public Information Officer Jodi Sorrell and Mohave County Public Information Director Darryle Purcell.

"The state's realignment of Highway 95 is a long way down the road," Sockwell said, "and we need relief on Highway 95 now."

Hendrix summed up the county's progress on the proposal so far.

"ADOT performed a traffic study and found that a good portion of Highway 95, as of 2004, is operating at a failure level, level F," he said. "The average daily traffic on the highway at Camp Mohave sometimes is as high as 50,000 vehicles per day. Obviously, the longer we wait to address this issue, the further behind we are in solving it.

"The county has had discussions with ADOT," Hendrix said. "The Board of Supervisors has approved that we obtain proposals (from qualified engineering firms) to perform an alignment study and concept design. Bullhead City has expressed a strong interest in participating. The Fort Mojave Tribe has been super on helping us from a Public Works standpoint. We have approval from the County Transportation Commission."

Latoski passed out "Vanderslice Road Improvements Concept Proposal" maps and a comparison of alternatives concerning the project at two lanes and at four lanes.

The county is well on its way to paving the first two miles of Vanderslice at two lanes from Courtwright Road to Laguna Road. According to comparison material provided by Latoski, to finish the next 12 miles of two lanes all the way to the Bullhead Parkway is estimated to cost $10,869,701. To improve the full 14 miles to a four-lane road would cost approximately $30,237,701. There are 13 significant wash crossings on the route. The two-lane proposal would use "pipe culverts and/or low-water crossings," while the four-lane improvement would require the use of "box culverts."

"This proposal should not impact the state's Highway 95 realignment project," Hendrix said. "An endeavor like this (Vanderslice) directly relates to issues on Highway 95," and is of concern to ADOT. "If we take 12,000 trips off of Highway 95, that would positively impact the longevity of 95."

"By policy, under normal circumstances, we couldn't fund a project that is not a state highway," Kondelis said. "But, we will do what we can to help you."