"Southern Nevadans will get traffic relief up to two years faster, thanks to the design-build concept," said Gov. Jim Gibbons, announcing the North Corridor project, the $242 million project which will improve about four miles of Interstate 15 north of the busy Spaghetti Bowl interchange near downtown Las Vegas and should be completed by 2010.

"We're speeding up the process," said Susan Martinovich, Nevada Department of Transportation chief. "Traditional highway projects require the design to be finished first, then the bidding, before construction can begin. The design-build system allows actual construction to start while the designing is still taking place."

Plans call for widening I-15 from six lanes to 10 lanes from the Spaghetti Bowl to Lake Mead Boulevard, reconfiguring the Lake Mead Boulevard interchange, and widening the freeway to eight lanes from Lake Mead Boulevard to Craig Road.

Oh boy! Look what they managed to do with the "Spaghetti Bowl," the Henderson "Collision Bowl," and several other crazy loops and whirls with inadequate signs and no coordination of traffic lights when "they" designed it first. I can't wait to see what they build before they design it. Or, maybe building first and then designing it might actually work better. See you soon at the I-15 demolition derby.