Letter: Reid, Ensign can help pave way to new roads

Friday, March 30, 2007 | 7:14 a.m.

Anyone who has been around the toll road block should have already discovered what happens when you finally build one - pork and political patronage. The Chicago area is a prime example. Decades ago there was a hue and cry for more and better roads. Tolls were the answer to everyone's prayer. Bonds would be floated and completely paid back by tolls in 20 or 30 years. Afterward these roads would be open to the public without a toll. Well, they are still there and they are still collecting tolls.

The primary reason for new and better roads is population growth. If Nevadans want more and better roads look no further than the 1998 BLM land sales agreement, the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act (SNPLMA). To date there have been $3 billion in public land sales here to support population growth, and even more will be coming down the road. All that is needed is for the majority leader of the U.S. Senate, Harry Reid, to alter this agreement and divert the bulk of these funds from the current requirement of parks and trails expenditures to roads and bridges.

Nevada Sens. Reid and John Ensign previously diverted SNPLMA funds to meet the needs of our state, so surely they can do it again. This is what leadership is all about, isn't it?

Richard Rychtarik, Las Vegas