From Wikipedia....

Ivanpah Valley Airport is the planned relief airport for McCarran International Airport. Since there is only limited space left for expansion at McCarran, a new airport is the only alternative to increase capacity by a significant amount.

To allow for growth in air travel to Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada is buying 6,500 acres (26 km²) of land in the Ivanpah Valley from the Bureau of Land Management about 30 miles (50 km) southwest of McCarran International Airport for the Ivanpah Airport. This location is between Jean and Primm.

HISTORY

Legislation was signed on October 28, 2000^[1] allowing Clark County to purchase land for a new commercial airport. This is the only new commercial airport currently being planned in the United States.

CONSTRUCTION

All dates for construction and availability are fluid at this time. However the official Clark County Department of Aviation statements point 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. Currently McCarran is expected to be at 55 million passengers in 2011. ^[2]

Currently the project is working to meet the lengthy environmental studies required for major projects. On October 8, 2005, the engineering consultant firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. (VHB) was chosen as the firm to produce the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the airport. ^[3]

ACCESS

The airport is sited on the proposed California-Nevada Interstate Maglev line connecting Las Vegas with California. It is on the section that is currently funded by the US Congress for the planning phase. It is also located near the Union Pacific mainline that Amtrak has proposed to use for a high speed train to California. It is also expected to be near the proposed DesertXpress high speed rail line.

Road access to the area is via Las Vegas Boulevard and two exits from Interstate 15.