Delay sought on dam decision

Jeffrey Libby and Launce Rake

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2001 | 11:21 a.m.

State Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, joined Boulder City Tuesday night in asking the Federal Highway Administration to delay a final decision on the Hoover Dam bypass project.

Speaking from Carson City by teleconference, Porter voiced support for studying a plan that would reroute commercial truck traffic through Laughlin rather than routing it with the rest of traffic along a Sugarloaf Mountain bridge as the highway administration has proposed.

"We have a very serious challenge ahead of us as a community," said Porter, a former Boulder City Councilman. "We're on the eve of a decision that will impact the community of Boulder City for generations to come."

But Porter did not join a unified Boulder City Council.

Members split over the issue, voting 3-2 to join Laughlin and Bullhead City, Ariz., in formally petitioning the highway administration for further study of alternatives for the planned bypass.

The Laughlin route would add 23 miles but only about 20 minutes to travel time from Phoenix to Las Vegas. It also would provide a boost to the economy of Laughlin, which could be hurt by the new expansions of Indian gambling in neighboring parts of the country.

But Tuesday night, with more than 100 residents packed into council chambers and lining the hallway outside, sentiments clung closer to home. Rhetoric was high and applause went unchecked.

"When the highway administrators say they have studied the Laughlin route, that's simply not true," Councilman Bryan Nix said. "They say they're concerned about the desert tortoise. Well what about the 15,000 residents of Boulder City?"

A citizen's group opposed to the bypass project present 670 signatures collected over the weekend.

And Fred Dexter, an environmentalist and member of the Sierra Club, said that the highway administration had left "a consistent trail of deception designed to minimize public input" throughout the eight most recent years of proposals.

But Councilmen Joe Hardy and Bill Smith both opposed asking for further study, saying that the groundswell of public opposition to the $200 million project has come too late and would not likely serve the interests of Boulder City.

"In spite of the emotions, we have to look at the reality," Hardy said, pointing out that studies of a Hoover Dam bypass have been conducted since 1965. "The bypass is a stand-alone issue. All it does is solve the problem of traffic on the dam. And people want to study the Laughlin route now. How long will that take? Another 30 years? We don't have 30 years to protect the citizens of Boulder City."

Hardy said further studies would cause delays that could result in the loss of federal money to build the bypass.

But both Nix and Porter said the bypass bridge as proposed could pose a threat to regional and national security. They said current traffic congestion along the dam could also threaten the dam and Lake Mead.

"The Hoover Dam corridor is a catastrophe waiting to happen," Porter said in an interview. "It is unsafe and has been for over 30 years."

Porter plans to introduce a resolution supporting the Boulder City petition. It will mark the second time he has asked the highway administration to look south for an improved route over the Colorado River -- a similar resolution passed in 1995. Boulder City also passed two other resolutions before that.

The agency needs to reexamine the Hoover Dam bypass in light of the Canamex corridor discussions, a multi-agency effort to establish a route linking the three NAFTA partners -- Canada, the United States and Mexico -- with a single highway that would go through Las Vegas, Porter said.

But Dave Zanetell, FHWA Hoover Dam project manager, said his agency has already taken a long, hard look at the Laughlin suggestion. The agency has concluded that the idea won't work, he said. Under that plan, traffic would continue to back up along the narrow road winding down from both sides of the mountains to the dam, he said.

"The bottom line: It still would leave a situation in grave need of being addressed at the Hoover Dam," Zanetell said. "We'd still have the congestion and the visitor conflicts and the degradation of the Hoover Dam facility."

The highway administration could make what agency officials are calling a final decision as soon as next Wednesday, a day after the final comment period for the project's environmental impact statement expires. The proposal includes the Laughlin alternative in an appendix as unworkable.

Even so, Zanetell said his agency will consider Porter's and Boulder City's latest request for new studies.

"We do have to listen to, and take seriously, the concerns of any citizens, and in particular those who represent our citizens," Zanetell said.

Porter's resolution, however, caught the agency by the surprise.

"I was unaware that he was advancing such an initiative," Zanetell said.

"We have not had any dialogue with him."

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