Ivanpah Valley Airport
Encyclopedia
Relief airport
Relief airport is used to describe any airport that is built or designated to provide relief or additional capacity to an area when the primary commercial airport reach capacity. In some cases a relief airport is an existing one that is designated to handle a specific class of aircraft such as...
for McCarran International Airport
McCarran International Airport
McCarran International Airport is the principal commercial airport serving Las Vegas and Clark County, Nevada, United States. The airport is located five miles south of the central business district of Las Vegas, in the unincorporated area of Paradise in Clark County. It covers an area of and...
serving the Las Vegas area
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
to be located near Primm, Nevada
Primm, Nevada
Primm is a tiny community in Clark County, Nevada, United States, primarily notable for its position straddling Interstate 15 where it crosses the border between California and Nevada...
. Since there is only limited space left for expansion at McCarran (being located adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
) a new airport is the only alternative to increase capacity by a significant amount. The project is on temporary hold as of June 2010.
History
Legislation was signed on October 28, 2000 allowing Clark County to purchase land for a new commercial airport. Clark CountyClark County, Nevada
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,375,765 people, 512,253 households, and 339,693 families residing within the MSA. The racial makeup of the MSA was 71.6% White , 9.1% Black, 5.7% Asian, 0.8% American Indian and 12.8% of other or mixed race. 22.0% were Hispanic of any race...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
is buying 6500 acres (2,630.5 ha) of land in the Ivanpah Valley
Ivanpah Valley
The Ivanpah Valley is in southeastern California and southern Nevada in the United States. The valley is between the New York Mountains and the Ivanpah Mountains in San Bernardino County on the California side, and in Clark County on the Nevada side. The communities of Cima, California, Nipton,...
from the Bureau of Land Management about 30 miles (48.3 km) southwest of McCarran International Airport for the Ivanpah Airport. This location is between Jean
Jean, Nevada
Jean is a small commercial town in Clark County, Nevada, located approximately north of the Nevada-California state line along Interstate 15. Las Vegas is located about to the north...
and Primm
Primm, Nevada
Primm is a tiny community in Clark County, Nevada, United States, primarily notable for its position straddling Interstate 15 where it crosses the border between California and Nevada...
.
The airport had been planned to open in 2017, however the Clark County Department of Aviation announced the project was put on temporary hold as of June 2010 until demand & air traffic and tourism to Las Vegas increases.
Construction
Official Clark County Department of Aviation originally statements pointed to starting construction in 2010 with an opening date of 2017. These dates were based on McCarran reaching 90% (49.5 million passengers) of its projected capacity of 55 million passengers in 2017. At that time, McCarran was expected to be at 55 million passengers in 2011. The economic recession of 2007-2010 has slowed demand considerably in the Las Vegas region and as a result, planning for the airport has slowed. The federal environmental review process has been temporarily suspended and planning has slowed as well.Most recently the project was working to meet the lengthy environmental studies required for major projects. The engineering consultant firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. was chosen as the firm to help prepare the Environmental Impact Statement
Environmental impact statement
An environmental impact statement , under United States environmental law, is a document required by the National Environmental Policy Act for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". An EIS is a tool for decision making...
for the airport.
Access
Primary road access to the area is currently via Interstate 15 and Las Vegas BoulevardLas Vegas Boulevard
State Route 604 is the route number designation for parts of Las Vegas Boulevard, a major north–south road in the Las Vegas metropolitan area of Nevada in the United States best known for the Las Vegas Strip and its casinos. Formerly carrying U.S...
. It is also located near the Union Pacific mainline that Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
has proposed to use for a high-speed train to California. It is also expected to be near the proposed Desert Xpress
Desert Xpress
DesertXpress is a proposal to build a privately-funded high speed rail passenger train from Victorville, California, to Las Vegas, Nevada.- Overview :...
high-speed rail line. The also stalled California-Nevada Interstate Maglev
California-Nevada Interstate Maglev
The California-Nevada Interstate Maglev project is proposing the construction of a Maglev train line from Las Vegas, Nevada to Anaheim, California. One segment would run from Las Vegas to Primm, Nevada, with proposed service to the Las Vegas area's forthcoming Ivanpah Valley Airport. The top speed...
line to connect Las Vegas with California was to terminate at the new airport.
External links
- Ivanpah Valley Airport (page at McCarran Int'lMcCarran International AirportMcCarran International Airport is the principal commercial airport serving Las Vegas and Clark County, Nevada, United States. The airport is located five miles south of the central business district of Las Vegas, in the unincorporated area of Paradise in Clark County. It covers an area of and...
web site) - Southern Nevada Supplemental Airport (SNSA) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
- Map of proposed airport location (JPEGJPEGIn computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
) - Planned Runways (map)
