I’ve traveled this new I-11 route twice now and can confirm it does NOT reduce any time on the road between the Hoover Dam bridge and Las Vegas. What it does is allow everyone on it to continue at 65+mph. It adds about 8 miles to the previous route which went through a part of Boulder City. Now if someone wants to risk a ticket going 90 mph on the new road they can probably reduce some time. Not much but some.
What this new road also did was take away all the drive-by traffic for the multitudes of small business on one little stretch of road in Boulder City that catered to food, gas, and tourism business. I was there just 2 weeks ago during lunch time for a business reason and couldn’t help but notice the empty parking lots in all the businesses that used to be bustling before the route change.
This kind of thing is nothing new. Interstate 40 caused Rt 66 businesses and lots of small towns to die off. Some towns kind of reinvented themselves as tourist spots while others are still destitute or just gone. Williams, near the Grand Canyon, which became the “Gateway to the Grand Canyon” thrived while just down the Interstate; Ashford is still barely hanging on. Still further down, Seligman, has maintained while neither dying nor thriving. Probably due to its remote location as a rest, food, and gas stop. It’s actually a quaint little town.
Ashford? You mean Ash Fork?