The Spaghetti Bowl is the colloquial name for a freeway interchange in downtown

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. It is the system interchange between

Interstate 11 Interstate 11 (I-11) is an Interstate Highway that currently runs for on a predominantly northwest–southeast alignment in the U.S. state of Nevada, running concurrently with either or both U.S. Route 93 (US 93) and US 9 ...

U.S. Route 95 U.S. Route 95 (US 95) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway System, United States Highway in the western United States. It travels through the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho, staying inland ...

Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway in the Western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexican border in San Diego County and stretches north to Alberta, Ca ...

and

U.S. Route 93 U.S. Route 93 (US 93) is a major north–south U.S. Numbered Highway in the western United States, that connects U.S. Route 60 (US 60) in Wickenburg, Arizona, with British Columbia Highway 93 at the Canadian border (north of ...

, which also includes a service interchange with Martin Luther King Boulevard. The interchange, which was substantially rebuilt between 1999 and 2000, carries more than 300,000 cars and trucks per day .

History

The original Spaghetti Bowl was constructed in the mid 1960s by

Kiewit Corporation Kiewit Corporation is an American construction company based in Omaha, Nebraska founded in 1884. In 2021, it was ranked 243rd on the Fortune 500. Privately held, it is one of the largest construction and engineering organizations in North America ...

and was completed by 1968. Upon completion, the interchange connected I-15 to the new, cross-town Las Vegas Expressway. That highway, which carried

US 95 U.S. Route 95 (US 95) is a major north–south United States Highway in the western United States. It travels through the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho, staying inland from the Pacific Coast. US 95 b ...

(relocated from Bonanza Road) and was later renamed in honor of Oran K. Gragson, served as a mile-long spur to

Las Vegas Boulevard Las Vegas Boulevard is a major road in Clark County, Nevada, Clark County, Nevada, United States, best known for the Las Vegas Strip portion of the road and its casinos. Formerly carrying U.S. Route 91 in Nevada, U.S. Route 91 (US 91), wh ...

in downtown Las Vegas on the east and eventually served as a new bypass of Rancho Drive for US 95 traffic to the west and north. Between 1982 and 1994, the US 95 freeway was extended to the east (concurrent with

US 93 U.S. Route 93 (US 93) is a major north–south U.S. Numbered Highway in the western United States, that connects U.S. Route 60 (US 60) in Wickenburg, Arizona, with British Columbia Highway 93 at the Canadian border (north of ...

) past downtown and then southeast toward Henderson,

, eventually being co-designated as I-515. Also in the 1980s, new interchanges, including one with a new feeder freeway, the Summerlin Parkway, were constructed along the US 95 Gragson Freeway to the west and northwest of the Spaghetti Bowl. The increased traffic on the cross-town freeway left the I-15 interchange, with its two loop ramps, several closely spaced ramps and no ramp wider than one lane, totally inadequate; it had been designed to carry only about 60,000 vehicles a day. In the late 1990s, NDOT began a reconstruction project at the interchange, with new, wider ramps and elimination of the loops. By November 1999, ramps had been built and opened to provide access in all directions to and from nearby Martin Luther King Boulevard (except for an onramp to US 95 north), which had only partial access in the prior configuration. The overall project was completed in August 2000 with the opening of the new flyovers and other reconfigured freeway-to-freeway ramps. On May 22, 2015, there was a magnitude 4.8 earthquake several miles north of Las Vegas near the town of Caliente. This earthquake caused what appeared to be damage to the southbound US 95 ramp to southbound Interstate 15 and the Nevada Highway Patrol shut down the ramp around 12:20 p.m. local time. Upon further inspection by the

Nevada Department of Transportation The Nevada Department of Transportation (Nevada DOT or NDOT) is a government agency in the U.S. state of Nevada. NDOT is responsible for maintaining and improving Nevada's highway system, which includes U.S. highways and Interstate highways with ...

(NDOT), the quake dislodged protective rubber encasing a previously-damaged bridge joint. With no structural damage caused by the earthquake, the ramp was reopened around 5:00 p.m. the same day. On May 21, 2024, US 95 was re–designated as I-11 by NDOT due to an expansion in Nevada, linking Las Vegas, Phoenix and

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

after the

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway A highway is any public or private road ...

(AASHTO) approved the I-11 designation in October 2022 along with the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

(FHWA) on November 24, 2023.

Project Neon

HOV connectors were added from I-15 north to US 95 north and from US 95 south to I-15 south in 2019. South of the interchange, collector-distributor roads were constructed to eliminate traffic bottleneck and weaving on I-15 south between the Charleston Boulevard and

Sahara Avenue Sahara Avenue is a major east-west roadway in the Las Vegas Valley. The former State Route 589 (SR 589) comprised a large portion of the street. The roadway is named after the Sahara Hotel and Casino, which itself is named after the Saha ...

interchanges and the US 95 ramps.

References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures in Las Vegas Interstate 15 Metaphors referring to spaghetti Road interchanges in Nevada Transportation in the Las Vegas Valley U.S. Route 93 U.S. Route 95