RTC citizen’s group reviews plans for light rail system

Stephen Curran

Thursday, Aug. 26, 2004 | 9:41 a.m.

A Regional Transportation Commission citizen's group on Wednesday looked over the latest plans for a 33-mile light rail system that could eventually link Henderson and North Las Vegas.

The proposed project, touted as "no problem" technically by project manager Charles DeWeese to the agency's Citizens Advisory Committee, could still fall victim to a number of unseen political and economic forces that have delayed -- and in some cases undone -- large-scale transportation projects, he said.

If approved, the rail line would run from the Nevada State College at Henderson to downtown Las Vegas and could be completed by 2008. A second phase, which officials have previously predicted could be finished by 2014, would extend the route from downtown to a planned University of Nevada, Las Vegas, satellite campus in North Las Vegas.

Early estimates pinpointed the cost of the project at $700 million -- about $20 million a mile -- but it could be as much as $2.1 billion depending on the type of rail system commissioners approve, DeWeese said.

Those funds would likely be secured through a combination of federal funds and money earmarked from the $2.7 billion Question 10 transportation tax package, which could possibly be used to bring in federal matching funds, he said.

"It's not a fast process if federal money is used," DeWeese said of securing the monies to build the system.

The newly completed Dallas Area Rapid Transit system, which DeWeese worked to complete, faced similar uncertainty. The project in its early stages was popular with voters, who approved a one-cent tax in the 1980s to finance the light rail system, but later rejected a long-term financing plan. The delays, coupled with a bureaucratic transportation commission, pushed the project back several years, he said.

Similar circumstances are unlikely in Las Vegas, where the RTC is comprised of eight members compared to Dallas' 25, but other uncertainties could cause headaches for planners here, he said.

"That's a set of circumstances that happened in another town," DeWeese said of the Dallas delays. "From a technical point of view it's no problem, but there's a lot of local things that can happen anywhere."