Board names stretch of U.S. 395 for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Tuesday, May 12, 1998 | 4:23 a.m.

The panel chaired by Gov. Bob Miller voted 6-1 to rename the highway from the Nevada-California line at Bordertown to the Mount Rose Highway junction just south of Reno.

State Controller Darrel Daines cast the lone "no" vote, saying the board had adopted a policy in 1991 to not name highways after people anymore.

Miller strongly advocated the renaming, backed by Onie Cooper who chairs the local Martin Luther King Jr. Commission. Cooper for several years has been trying to get a Reno-area highway or street named after the civil rights leader assassinated in 1968.

In other action, the Transportation Board voted to spend $10 million on a California highway project that could man more tourists for Las Vegas.

Nevada Transportation Director Tom Stephens said the project would widen 26 miles of Interstate 15 between Barstow and Victorville to make the highway eight lanes all the way from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

"It's in the public interest for Nevada, and money that's well spent," Stephens said of the Nevada money that will help cover part of the $150 million cost of the project.