Hoover Dam bypass proposals are rapped

Jeffrey Libby

Wednesday, April 18, 2001 | 11:07 a.m.

Laughlin senior advisory board member John Haldeman delivered an unexpected message Tuesday to the more than 100 Boulder City residents gathered in council chambers to oppose proposed expansions of state, regional and federal highways through their small town.

Haldeman, speaking as one of five council members who report to the Clark County commissioners, said Laughlin doesn't want truck traffic traveling from Mexico along the Canamex highway diverted through his town, either.

"I don't want to be tarred and feathered, but we're really not looking to bring all that truck traffic through Laughlin," Haldeman said. "In 1998 we were interested in the process, but that was before the Canamex highway was proposed and that was before the nuclear waste was proposed that might be affecting all of you."

If Yucca Mountain is chosen as the nation's only nuclear waste repository, residents here are concerned trucks would pass through Boulder City on their way to the site.

Haldeman's remarks came toward the close of an emotional, three-hour town meeting called by Boulder City Mayor Bob Ferraro to address growing concern among residents that the $198 million Hoover Dam bypass project, a planned expansion of U.S. 93 through Boulder City and a designation of Boulder City as a stop along the proposed 1,500-mile truck route between Mexico and Canada, would destroy the town's unique character.

In recent weeks, elected officials and residents have pinned hopes of eluding the increased regional traffic on two proposals, both involving Laughlin.

One would build a smaller, less costly Hoover Dam bypass bridge across the Colorado River at Laughlin and Bullhead City, Ariz., rather than building the 1,900-foot bridge a few hundred feet south of the dam as planned.

Many residents, including Fred Dexter, a member of the Sierra Club, argued Tuesday that the Laughlin alternative has never been seriously considered by the Federal Highway Administration despite official resolutions passed by both Laughlin and Bullhead City in 1998 asking the federal agency for further study.

The second proposal would divert the Canamex highway route off U.S. 93 and away from Boulder City, bringing it northwest along U.S. 95 through Laughlin. That proposal has gained support from state Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, and will be discussed by the Legislature as Senate Resolution 8 in coming weeks.

But both proposals took hard hits Tuesday.

Dave Zanetell, Federal Highway Administration project manager for the Hoover Dam bypass project, told the crowd the bridge will be built at Sugarloaf Mountain, as announced in March.

"The bridge is past the point of consideration of other alternatives, of going back and re-reviewing it. We have made a decision to go forward," Zanetell said.

Haldeman's position also complicated what has been reported as unilateral support by Laughlin and Bullhead City, Ariz., for an alternate truck route along U.S. 95.

Boulder City officials have touted the economic benefits that would come with the Canamex designation, but Haldeman was skeptical. The truck route will only be an economic benefit to "the people loading and unloading the trucks," Haldeman said.

"I just don't want Boulder City people going to legislators and saying Laughlin wants the truck traffic," Haldeman said after the meeting. He said he was speaking as a board member but couldn't speak for the board as a whole.

Beyond concerns raised as a result of the dam bypass and the Canamex designation, Boulder City residents also face a significant widening of U.S. 93 through the middle of town. The Nevada Department of Transportation is managing the project.

Of the three alternatives proposed by the state highway department, residents voiced overwhelming support Tuesday for a southern route that skirts the city entirely. The other two proposals, which run through the Hemenway Valley, could involve condemning homes.

"If the Laughlin route is lost, the only fall-back route is the southern route. It's not up the Hemenway Valley, and it's not up through the center of town," Ferraro said, and the crowd roared.