Officials present case for transit funding

Angela Soo

Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2001 | 10:54 a.m.

The federal government should help those who help themselves, say local transportation officials.

Regional Transportation Commission Chairman Bruce Woodbury would like the help to come in the form of federal dollars for a variety of local transportation projects.

The local officials pleaded their case to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, who attended Nevada's first Silver State Transportation Summit at McCarran International Airport Monday.

"We're hoping to let the secretary of Transportation know what we've been doing to help ourselves," Woodbury, a Clark County commissioner, said Monday. "And because we've done much to help ourselves, we're entitled to his help and support."

Tom Stephens, director of the Nevada Department of Transportation, said Southern Nevada is using local money to build 53 miles of highway. Stephens, who was referring to the Las Vegas Beltway, said the project would cost about $1.5 billion when completed in 2020.

Woodbury also talked about expanding mass transit projects, such as extending the monorail project from the resort corridor and offering additional park-and-ride services.

RTC General Manager Jacob Snow spoke of the need for additional bus-only lanes along Flamingo Road, Las Vegas Boulevard North, Boulder Highway, Rancho Drive and Sahara and Tropicana avenues.

RTC officials also mentioned MAX, or Metropolitan Area Express, a light-rail transit system that operates with an environmentally friendly diesel-electric fuel engine and optical guidance system. MAX vehicles, which will run on schedules similar to those now used by buses, will cost about $1 million each. The RTC hopes to have 10 vehicles running by fall 2003.

Ingrid Reisman, RTC spokeswoman, said there is $7.6 billion in unfunded transportation projects.

"We weren't asking for a specific amount," Tom Greco, a Nevada Department of Transportation project manager, said today. "We were just making the point that our needs outreach our present funding, and that any additional funding that Washington would be able to allocate is a benefit to Nevada. We can ask for $100 million and it still wouldn't be enough."

Local transportation officials have until Dec. 1 to submit to Reid a five to 10 page report defining funding priorities.

"Nevadans cannot afford to take our transportation infrastructure for granted," Reid said. "Whether it's traffic jams or flight delays, transportation problems affect our economy, our environment and the quality of our lives."

Mineta on Monday announced $28.3 million in grants to help fund airport projects in northern Nevada.

The Reno-Tahoe International Airport will receive $27.4 million, most of which will be used to refurbish a runway. The Battle Mountain Airport in Lander County will get $850,950 to fix two runways.

Reid announced earlier this month that Henderson Executive Airport would get $5,984,780 million in federal grant money to improve safety and increase capacity.

"These grants are necessary to help Nevada upgrade and build the aviation infrastructure it will need to keep pace with the rapid growth of commercial aviation," Mineta said.

Nearly 50 percent of all visitors to Las Vegas arrive by air, an 8 percent increase since 1990. McCarran International Airport is the seventh busiest in the nation and is approaching full capacity, transportation officials say.

A third concourse of the D-Gate facility is scheduled to open at McCarran in 2004 and a self-sustaining third terminal, including a separate baggage claim area and ticketing counter, are scheduled to open by 2007.

Further down the line is the proposed Ivanpah Airport in Primm. Aviation officials are reviewing architectural proposals for the $500 million project, scheduled for completion in 2011.

"The bottom line is just meeting the growth," Margo Quarrell Lamuraglia, analyst for terminal operations of the Clark County Department of Aviation, said. "We can see it coming, and we want to prepare for it."

Earlier Monday a group that included Mineta, Reid, Gov. Kenny Guinn, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman toured the area -- from the Las Vegas Valley to the California state line -- in a National Guard helicopter. The tour, a fact-finding mission for Mineta, was "about traffic in general" Guinn said before the flight.