Governor outlines construction program

Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2003 | 9:52 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn wants to build a new mental hospital in Clark County, start construction on the $62 million UNLV Science, Engineering and Technology Center and speed up highway construction to relieve traffic congestion in Southern Nevada.

The governor has outlined an ambitious building program for the next two years with $244 million going for state construction and $524 million for road building.

In his State of the State address Monday, the governor said he wants to see higher education become "a center for research and new partnerships between business and academia." And a key step to this goal is the new center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The project is to be financed with $47 million from government and $25 million in private funds.

The state Public Works Board had not included this in its construction budget, with the majority of members saying it was not ready. But Guinn overrode the board that oversees state construction projects. Guinn called the UNLV center the "wave of the future."

There is $32.2 million for a 150-bed mental health center in Clark County that the governor said "is crucial to meet the needs of citizens in the Las Vegas area and will provide a long-overdue solution to a chronic problem."

People who are mentally ill are stacking up in hospital emergency rooms because there is no space in state facilities, officials have said. Guinn is creating a special task force to provide mental health services to those in the emergency wards while the hospital is built.

The governor also said he will ask the State Transportation Board to approve $200 million in bonds to "jump start" highway projects. And he has included $325 million in transportation bonds over the next two years. Guinn said the money, "will allow us to complete the widening of U.S. 95 in Las Vegas, complete the Henderson Spaghetti Bowl project, complete the freeway from Reno to Carson City and finish construction on the Carson City Bypass."

State Transportation Director Tom Stephens said this will double the size of the work program and will create 10,000 jobs in the "next couple of years." He said it was a balanced program between the south and the north.

Besides the UNLV science building and the mental health hospital, other Southern Nevada projects in the budget include a $9.4 million Department of Motor Vehicles building in North Las Vegas; a $20.3 million health science building at the West Charleston campus of the Community College of Southern Nevada and $3.9 million to furnish and equip the telecommunications building at the Cheyenne campus.