LV takes big chunk of road funds

Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2001 | 9:40 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Clark County will get 50 percent of the $608.3 million the state Transportation Department intends to spend on road construction during the current fiscal year.

The expansion of U.S. 95 in northwest Las Vegas would take up a large chunk of the money.

The state Transportation Board on Monday approved the construction budget, which calls for Clark County to receive $305.1 million and Washoe County, $90.2 million. The remaining money will be divided in rural Nevada.

Gov. Kenny Guinn, the board chairman, told the transportation staff he wanted to make sure the widening of U.S. 95 is accelerated.

Transportation Director Tom Stephens told the governor, "We're looking at plans to speed this up."

Kent L. Cooper, program development manager for the department, said there is $50 million to $55 million in the budget for engineering and right-of-way acquisition and an estimated $27 million exists for construction of interchanges at Valley View and Decatur boulevards.

Besides the construction projects, $3.5 million exists in the budget to establish six express bus routes in the Las Vegas Valley. The routes would be used during peak hours in an effort to reduce air pollution.

In addition, $2 million is available to operate the highspeed Talgo passenger train proposed between Las Vegas and Southern California. Cooper said the train travels about 110 mph.

Also available is $41 million to repave and improve a number of streets in the Las Vegas Valley during the next two years. Guinn said local governments should take over maintenance of the streets because the the state is going to assume management of the Las Vegas Beltway.

After the streets are resurfaced, Guinn said, agreements turning them over to the local governments should be made. He said he did not want negotiations to linger because the state would be responsible for improvements during the interim.

The board also adopted a two-year construction plan calling for $1.6 billion for transportation projects. Stephens said during the next two years the state will spend $224 million to widen U.S. 95 in northwest Las Vegas; $123 million for construction of the Carson City freeway; $125 million for the construction of the Interstate 80 Reno to Carson City freeway; and $41 million to complete the widening of Interstate 15 between Las Vegas and Primm.

"This is the biggest two-year program in the history of the Department of Transportation," Stephens said.

Stephens said the building program "is predicated on encountering no environmental, design or right-of-way purchase delays." He said large complex projects are more likely to encounter the problems.

Although the economy has slowed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Stephens did not anticipate a dip in the gasoline tax receipts, which finance a large portion of the construction projects. He said traffic counts were up, but that could be because of a drop in airline passengers.

He said the federal government is considering a "stimulus program," and that his department has applied for $65 million to fund additional road construction.