U.S. 95 expansion may face lawsuit

Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000 | 11:10 a.m.

The Sierra Club may begin legal action to stop the ongoing expansion of U.S. 95 from Martin Luther King Boulevard to Craig Road.

An attorney for the San Francisco-based national environmental organization said Wednesday a "notice to sue" filing over the highway could be the opening salvo for more legal efforts to combat air pollution and sprawl in the Las Vegas Valley.

Sierra Club members have argued that the federal and state agencies building the $350 million expansion failed to do adequate assessment of the health effect on nearby residents. The parts of U.S. 95 targeted for expansion go mainly through residential neighborhoods.

Pat Gallagher, Sierra Club attorney, said the group still hopes that the agencies building the expansion, the Federal Highway Administration and the Nevada Department of Transportation, will agree to do the health studies.

"We will make one more attempt to persuade the agencies on the necessity of doing so, then we will pursue appropriate legal action," Gallagher said. "We will pursue our claim that the Federal Highway Administration and the Nevada Department of Transportation should look at the human health effects on expanding the U.S. 95 highway through residential neighborhoods in Las Vegas."

Robert McKenzie, NDOT spokesman, said his agency won't comment on the notice of intent to sue, or a lawsuit, until they have formal notice and a complete copy of the paperwork.

Cathy Razor, a project administrator with contractor PBS&J, said the agencies involved have gone through every necessary step to win federal and local approval for the project. The federal Environmental Protection Agency gave a qualified green light to the project in January.

Barbara Roth, a member of the local arm of the Sierra Club, welcomed the news from the national organization. Roth and others who live near the expansion have campaigned against the work as unnecessary, counterproductive and dangerous to the health and environment.

Roth said new studies show that the exhaust from motor vehicles, especially diesel-burning trucks, are more dangerous than previously known.

The Sierra Club nationally and locally views highway construction as a promoter of urban sprawl, which the organization has targeted as a leading environmental threat.

Road work "is one of the main catalysts to irresponsible development and air pollution," Gallagher said.

However, federal and state transportation officials have argued that the U.S. 95 expansion work is necessary to serve roads already congested in the fast-growing northwest area of the valley.

Some work is already under way, including expansion from four to six lanes of the stretch of highway from the Rainbow Boulevard interchange to Cheyenne Avenue. The work is scheduled for completion by the fall of 2001.

Work on overpass bridges at Torrey Pines Drive, Decatur Boulevard and Valley View Boulevard is slated to begin early next year. Work on the entire project is scheduled for completion by 2006.

Gallagher said the anticipated lawsuit isn't the only legal salvo the group will fire in the Las Vegas area.

"This stems from a national effort to combat sprawl," he said. "This is just one regional effort in a national campaign."

The organization could initiate legal action locally to block development and to challenge regional air pollution standards, Gallagher said.