First New Intersection on the Las Vegas Strip in 60 Years Moves Toward Development

State Senator Fabian Doñate and Assemblymember Cecelia González will back state funding commitments to expedite road and infrastructure enhancements on the Las Vegas Strip.

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- State Senator Fabian Doñate (District 10) and Assemblymember Cecelia González (District 16) announced their support in the upcoming legislative session to expedite construction of the first new intersection on the Las Vegas Strip in 60 years, at Russell Road and Las Vegas Boulevard. Chetak Development, who is proposing the Diamond Arena, is facilitating development of the intersection and the bypass road.

The intersection will be the first major exit from Interstate 15 to the Strip for northbound traffic arriving from California, and it will serve as the entrance to a new backside bypass road running from the I-15 and Russell Road exit to Tropicana Avenue. Both the new intersection and the bypass road are located in Senate District 10 and Assembly District 16.

The Route

The bypass road's Strip entrance will be on undeveloped property north of the Little Church of the West wedding chapel on Las Vegas Boulevard and will not impact that business.

Northbound I-15 traffic will use the existing Russell Road off-ramp to reach the east side of the Strip on a new four-lane road that connects to Haven Street, then to Koval Lane, and on to Tropicana Avenue. Haven Street will be extended north to Reno Avenue through land owned by the MHA Nation.

The result is a bypass road east of Las Vegas Boulevard that allows vehicles to exit I-15 at Russell Road and travel directly to Tropicana Avenue by way of Koval Lane. It will be the South Strip equivalent of Frank Sinatra Drive, which serves the west side of the Las Vegas Strip.

Chetak is in final negotiations with Object Dash, LLC to erect two Boring stations northeast and west of the proposed Diamond Arena. That agreement would also provide the land necessary to create the Las Vegas Boulevard entrance to the new bypass road.

Legislative Support

Assemblymember González emphasized the impact of the project: "The South Strip is long overdue for this significant economic development opportunity. I am proud to support my district through innovative projects like this one."

Senator Doñate added, "Road design and construction must be rapidly executed, given that there will be a surge of traffic in this area when the Las Vegas Athletics open their state-of-the-art baseball stadium in February 2028. I strongly support this effort and stand ready to work with Chetak Development and other local stakeholders on any additional infrastructure enhancements to support economic development on the Las Vegas Strip."

Serving Allegiant Stadium, the Athletics and a Future NBA Arena

The new intersection and bypass road will directly benefit both Allegiant Stadium and the Las Vegas Athletics by creating a road that joins the two sports facilities and by giving each direct backside ingress and egress from the east. It will also allow locals and tourists to travel quickly from resorts on the east side of Las Vegas Boulevard to the south end of the Strip, I-15, the Athletics' stadium and Allegiant Stadium without using the busy Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard intersection.

The bypass road will also be an essential transportation component for any proposed NBA arena site near Allegiant Stadium. It was reported by Sports Business Journal on October 14 that one of the Las Vegas Raiders owners has joined a leading proposed NBA ownership group and prefers that the NBA arena be located on the South Strip near Allegiant Stadium. Both the proposed Diamond Arena site at the northeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Four Seasons Drive and the alternative site at Bali Hai Golf Club would have improved ingress and egress from the new Strip intersection and bypass road.

Chetak's Commitment

Chetak Development, the developer of the Diamond Arena project, has committed to developing the new intersection and bypass road regardless of whether the ultimate NBA arena site is the Diamond Arena location, Bali Hai Golf Club or another South Strip location near Allegiant Stadium, because of the benefit to South Strip economic development and to the community.

Traffic Relief at Tropicana

The Tropicana intersection has been cited as one of the busiest street intersections in the world, with daily traffic volumes approaching 100,000 vehicles, and it typically experiences substantial traffic delays. NDOT informally estimates that the new Strip intersection and bypass road will decrease traffic on Tropicana Avenue at Las Vegas Boulevard by an estimated 22 percent.

Construction Impact and Timeline

There will be virtually no impact on existing traffic during construction, because most of the new road will be built on land not previously used for roads. The land for the bypass road comes from three sources:

• 75% from existing public roads and private landowners
• 16% from property the County acquired in 2021 that has an existing north-south road that will become part of the new road
• 9% from building over an existing county drainage ditch and placing the ditch in the middle of the new road

The project is estimated to take 24 months to complete.

MEDIA CONTACT: Tom Letizia

702-545-8777 • [email protected]

SOURCE Las Vegas Diamond Arena