Officials: State running out of roadwork money

Wednesday, June 22, 2005 | 11:04 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- In three years, the state won't have enough money to build and maintain enough roads for its booming population, particularly in Southern Nevada, state officials said Tuesday.

State Transportation Director Jeff Fontaine told the state Transportation Board that there's enough money for construction projects for the current three-year construction program. But from 2008 until 2014, there's an expected shortfall of $2.4 billion to handle building new roads and maintaining the present highways.

Gov. Kenny Guinn, chairman of the state Transportation Board, said a new task force will assess transportation needs, costs and set priorities.

"And they will look at how strongly people feel to support the needs," he said. That would include looking at the possibility of a tax increase to generate money to pay for roads.

If the public does not support a tax increase, the state's highway-construction and improvement program probably would have to be scaled back, Guinn said, adding that shortfall likely will be greater than the current, conservative estimate of $2.4 billion.

State money for highways and other transportation projects is critical to Southern Nevada, Jacob Snow, general manager of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, told the board. He pointed out that there have been an additional 100 vehicles on the road per day in the Las Vegas Valley in the last 25 years.

Snow outlined some of the mass transit projects planned for Clark County and warned, "We can't afford gridlock in Southern Nevada. If we do, it will gridlock the entire economy."

Future construction, Fontaine said, calls for eight new "super projects" that would cost $100 million each and two "mega-projects" that will exceed $1 billion each.

These two "mega" jobs are widening Interstate 15 from Tropicana Avenue to the Spaghetti Bowl at a cost of $1.9 billion and widening I-15 from the Spaghetti Bowl to Foothill Boulevard at a cost of $1.3 billion.

Among the other "super projects" are the $350 million Boulder City bypass and the $264 million I-15 widening from Tropicana to Sloan.

He told the state board that the Transportation Department is expected to receive $6.2 billion from 2008 to 2014 from state gas tax revenue, federal funds and other sources, but is already set to spend an estimated $8.6 billion.

The board, led by Guinn, agreed to create a task force to evaluate the future needs and how to meet the costs of the project.

Guinn said he was a member of one of these task forces in the late 1980s that charted the future plans of the state. "Without staying ahead, it would be devastating to the economy," the governor said.

Fontaine said the estimates are there will be an additional 2.8 million people in Nevada by 2010. The state already has a backlog of $400 million in maintenance projects, he told the board.

The governor said, "Without a long-range plan, we will get overwhelmed." He said this task force must have its work done in time to present to the 2007 Legislature.

The 15-member blue ribbon committee will consists of representatives from the regional transportation commissions in Clark and Washoe counties and the rural counties; contractors; environmentalists; a representative from the Nevada Taxpayers Association; homebuilders; and chambers of commerce.

The board approved the issuance of $200 million in bonds to continue the projects now under way.

Fontaine said Congress is in its seventh extension of the federal funding of highway construction. It has failed to come up with a six-year permanent budget for road building. The present extension expires at the end of June and he expects another extension.

He said the House of Representatives is suggesting $289 billion but the Senate has called for $295 billion.

In other action, the board agreed to spend $200,000 to hire a consultant to develop a "market strategy" to better inform the public on such things as safety and traffic congestion. This strategy would include increased use of public service announcements on such things as travel information.