Reid addresses truck-bypass issue

Jeffrey Libby

Thursday, May 31, 2001 | 10:05 a.m.

Sen. Harry Reid in a meeting last week assured Boulder City Mayor Bob Ferraro that federal funding would be found to build new highways that accommodate Western growth without destroying this small town's quality of life.

Reid did not immediately respond to a petition signed by 3,000 residents asking for a new route for international truck traffic traveling between Mexico and Canada. The proposed change would route trucks through Laughlin, as opposed to Boulder City.

Residents say that if the planned four-lane Hoover Dam bypass bridge is built to solve daily traffic jams on the historic dam, more trucks would travel through Boulder City.

The Nevada Department of Transportation is researching three expanded roadways that would transport traffic from the new bridge to Railroad Pass. The overwhelming preference of residents is an 11-mile route south of Boulder City, the cost of which is estimated at $280 million. Highway engineers estimate that improvements to the existing route would cost closer to $200 million.

"No one in Boulder City needs to be concerned that the state of Nevada will be unable to find the resources necessary to build a bypass if that is the will of the community and state," said Reid, D-Nev., a senior member of the transportation subcommittee and the highest ranking member of the Senate Public Works Committee.

"I am going to ensure that adequate federal resources are available to route all increased traffic and congestion around Boulder City, whatever route is chosen."

If truck traffic dramatically increases, Reid said, he would consider adjustments to the Canamex route designation.

Ferraro called the Washington, D.C., meeting a success, particularly because Reid still found time to talk about local issues while negotiating Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords' defection from the Republican Party.

"Senator Reid has made it clear that when the bridge is built, the people of Boulder City are going to be protected from its impacts," he said.

But some residents were less enthusiastic.

"We want him (Ferraro) to totally back us and try to eliminate this bridge," Ken Chipchak said. "They keep saying the bridge is a done deal. That's the pill they want us to swallow. But it's totally unacceptable."

Chipchak, a member of Citizens for the Preservation of Boulder City, an ad-hoc group, has started a second petition to stop construction of the bridge. The Sierra Club is also planning a lawsuit to stop construction.