Prospects studied for international cargo airport

Monday, Sept. 30, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

One of three rural sites in Southern Nevada someday could host an international all-cargo airport, local businessmen said.

The Nevada Development Authority together with the Nevada Alliance for Defense, Energy and Business are exploring three sites on federal lands suitable for an all-cargo airport and industrial park, said Troy Wade, director of the Nevada Alliance.

Under consideration are Mormon Mesa, between Las Vegas and Mesquite; Borax Valley, near the California-Nevada state line; and Desert Rock at the Nevada Test Site, Wade said.

Clark County Aviation Director Bob Broadbent said he had been asked by the Alliance and Bechtel National Corp. to lend technical assistance for the project.

"There are some people who have approached us to look at it," he said. "It's not moving quickly at all."

While the idea makes sense, it would take plenty of money to build the airport and surrounding warehouses and industry, Broadbent said.

"It's in the preliminary study stage," he said. It would take several hundred million dollars for a single runway to accommodate such large aircraft, he said.

The proposed sites are owned by either the federal Bureau of Land Management or the U.S. Department of Energy, so land costs would be minimal.

Asked if it would help relieve McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas of heavy traffic, Broadbent said, "It wouldn't probably apply to McCarran at all."

Broadbent said as aviation director, he would be willing to build and operate the venture.

"Sure, if we had the dough," he said. The idea needs sponsors to furnish funding, he said.

Wade announced the venture at the Nevada Alliance's general meeting late Friday at UNLV. The alliance was formed four years ago as the Nevada Contractors Association to bring alternative projects to the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

With President Clinton signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty at the U.N. General Assembly last week in New York, resuming underground nuclear weapons tests appears unlikely, he said.