Nevada to get $1 billion in U.S. highway bill

Wednesday, June 10, 1998 | 9 a.m.

The $203 billion transportation bill President Clinton signed into law on Tuesday will fund widening of U.S. Interstate 5 from Las Vegas to Primm, widening of U.S. Highway 50 between Fallon and Fernely and completion of the U.S. 395 bypass at Carson City.

It also targets $5 million for bus transportation projects in Washoe County and places a priority on future construction of a new bridge over the Hoover Dam.

In addition, the Lake Tahoe Basin will be granted a special designation as a metropolitan planning organization that makes communities at the lake eligible to bid for future federal dollars.

Members of Nevada's delegation cheered the measure that significantly increases the state's share of the federal highway funds.

The $1.1 billion, about $190 million a year, represents 62 percent more for Nevada than was included in the original transportation bill Congress considered earlier this year.

As a result, Nevadans will get back $1.14 in the form of new roads and improvements for every $1 they pay into the highway trust fund, lawmakers said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that handled the bill and served on a House-Senate conference committee that worked out the final compromise that Clinton signed on Tuesday.

"My biggest challenge in negotiating this bill was educating other members of the committee about our rapid growth and our need for a larger share of the pie," said Reid, who attended the bill signing ceremony at the White House.

A new bridge over Hoover Dam was given priority ranking under the new Federal Lands Highway Program, which will spend $1.3 billion nationally over six years, Reid said.

"The present road over the dam is incredibly dangerous and creates a traffic bottleneck which can be felt across state lines," the senator said.

Most of the money is allocated to state transportation departments to be spent as they see fit, but members of Congress were able to earmark specific demonstration projects under the Building Efficient Surface Transportation and Equity Act in Nevada.

In Nevada they include the $3.75 million for U.S. 395 Carson City bypass, $4 million for widening U.S. Highway 50 and $1.87 million for widening of I-15 from Las Vegas to Primm.

"Nevadans are going to receive the funds to adequately address our transportation needs," Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said.

Jay Cranford, Gibbons' spokesman, said the congressman also worked with members of California's delegation to secure $24 million for widening I-15 between Barstow, Calif., and Victorville, Calif., and $8.75 million for the I-580 extension in the San Francisco Bay area which will benefit Nevadans on their trips to the West Coast.