State board approves sale of $100 million in highway bonds

Friday, July 14, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state Transportation Board authorized selling $100 million in bonds next fiscal year, with $80.5 million going for the first phase of widening U.S. 95 in Las Vegas.

This first phase calls for widening U.S. 95 from four to six lanes from Washington to Cheyenne avenues. Four other phases will follow at a total cost estimated at $370 million.

Six months ago Gov. Kenny Guinn suggested the project been given a high priority because highway officials say the widening will alleviate the extreme congestion that slows traffic to a crawl and sometimes to a stop during rush hours.

About $18 million of the bond issue was originally planned for design and engineering of the U.S. 395 freeway south of Reno, but Carson City officials argued Thursday that the bypass around their city should be a higher priority than the Reno project.

Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, said the traffic congestion in Carson City merited a higher priority than the Reno freeway. He said it takes longer to drive the several miles through Carson City than the 20 miles from Mt. Rose south of Reno to the Carson City line.

Mayor Ray Masakyo of Carson City said he is willing to compete against Reno for the money. The board at its next meeting will consider the issue.

Reno officials were not at the meeting to defend the U.S. 395 freeway construction.

Transportation Director Tom Stephens outlined a five-year revenue picture for the department, showing it has projects and expenses totaling $3.4 billion. But cash flow is short by nearly $700 million to finance this work, prompting the bonding plan.

Besides U.S. 95, plans call for spending $72.6 million on improvements to Interstate 15 toward the California border, $306 million for the Reno freeway, $133.3 million for the Carson bypass, $20 million as Nevada's share for building a new Colorado River bridge near Hoover Dam and $14.3 million for the U.S. 93 freeway project at Boulder City.

The board nixed plans by the department to trade 15 acres near the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard South and Sunset Road to Clark County in exchange for 21 acres near the intersection of Decatur Boulevard and Interstate 215. The Decatur property would be used for a Nevada Highway Patrol District Headquarters and by the Transportation Department.

The state's property has 800 feet of frontage on the Strip and its value ranges from $4.8 million to $9.6 million. It is adjacent to property owned by the Howard Hughes Corp., which has expressed an interest in acquiring the parcel.

The 21-acre parcel owned by the Clark County Department of Aviation is valued at $6.2 million.

Guinn and others suggested the state might be better off selling its property and possibly buying the other land, saving millions of dollars. Guinn said the Bureau of Land Management has plenty of vacant land in Southern Nevada that could be acquired by the state for the Highway Patrol and transportation buildings.