Boulder Rail Line Extension Part of I-11 Project
September 27, 2014. By: Richard N. Velotta of the Las Vegas Review Journal.
Ever since engineers first began drawing lines on maps delineating where Interstate 11 would go in Southern Nevada, the focus has been on truck and automobile transportation on the state’s highway system.
It turns out that rail aficionados will have something to cheer about when workers contracted by the Nevada Transportation Department begin construction of the new freeway next spring.
The Boulder Branch railroad line, a 22-mile spur that veers off the main Union Pacific line near Russell Road in Las Vegas south through Henderson, will be restored to Boulder City as part of the I-11 project.
The line was severed in 1998 when tracks at a grade crossing on U.S. Highway 95 near the Railroad Pass casino were paved over.
Two bridges, one for pedestrians and one for the railroad track, are a part of the I-11 project.
To Greg Corbin, director of the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, it’s the fulfillment of a long-held promise to restore the line all the way to Boulder City.
“To finally see this all come together is really satisfying,” said Corbin, who called the bridge the single most important project for the Nevada Southern Railroad Museum in Boulder City.