National group issues traffic alert

Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2002 | 9:25 a.m.

A national organization today released a list of local roads clogged with traffic -- and warns that the jams could get worse unless action is taken.

The Road Information Program, a Washington-based group, found that traffic delays on some of Southern Nevada's busiest roads and highways cost drivers hundreds of dollars annually, and days of lost time. The study also said vehicle travel has almost doubled since 1990 and could double again by 2025.

The study calls for a "comprehensive approach" to relieving traffic congestion that should include expanding and building new roads and improving mass transit, sidewalks and bicycle paths.

The study also says better traffic signals, control of cars headed onto freeways and driver-information systems -- a class of improvements generally referred to as "intelligent transportation systems" -- are needed.

The warnings and the recommendations for easing traffic congestion closely match those given by the Regional Transportation Commission in the agency's effort to pass Question 10, a $2.7 billion tax initiative.

The tax initiative, which will come before voters this fall for an advisory vote, is largely funded through an increase in sales taxes.

Frank Moretti, the Road Information Program policy and research director, said the timing of the study's release and the tax initiative funding is not a coincidence.

Moretti said the members of his nonprofit organization are those with an interest in road building -- equipment manufacturers, road-construction companies and labor unions with "an interest in safer and more efficient transportation."

"We don't take positions on what voters should do or what legislative bodies should do," Moretti said. "But we recognize that any time there's a significant vote by a legislative body or by the public, that's the time to do public education."

Jacob Snow, RTC general manager, said his agency did not approach the Road Information Program; the organization, which represents road-building concerns, approached the RTC at a Nevada legislative meeting earlier this year.

He noted that the organization not only calls for new, expanded and better roadways, but the study also calls for improved mass transit, bicycle and pedestrian paths.

Those points and the problems of traffic congestion were both noted by the RTC's community coalition, dubbed the RTC-3, a group that last year advocated spending billions to correct the situation.

"We think the study is a validation of the work that the RTC-3 did," Snow said.

But Kenneth Williams, one of three people who wrote the argument against the tax initiative that will appear on Clark County's sample ballot, argued voters should not base their decision on the study and the RTC's efforts.

"The fact that this study is coming out right now is simply one more indication of how they are attempting to program the voters to accept proposition 10 no matter what the taxes are," Williams said. "I think it's arrogant. There will be a lot of money spent on this election.

Williams, a retired Los Angeles city attorney, said one of the big problems with the initiative is its reliance on sales taxes.

"There are traffic problems we will have to face, but the manner in which they are going to be paid for makes a lot of difference to all of the taxpaying public."