Editorial: A future of gridlock?

Friday, Sept. 7, 2007 | 7:29 a.m.

The way the federal government hands out money for highway construction projects is badly in need of repair.

The money does not always go to the right places, and the government takes in only a fraction of the money necessary to meet the nation's needs.

As reported in Monday's Las Vegas Sun by Steve Kanigher, in December a national commission will recommend ways to improve the way the nation's roadways are funded, a major concern for Nevada. In 2005 the state received 94 cents back for every dollar it paid in federal taxes for highway projects. That is 20 cents below the national average.

Transportation experts say Nevada was lucky to get that much.

"The way we fund highways was good in the 1950s and 1960s and 1970s, but it's not good for the 21st century," said Las Vegas transportation consultant Tom Skancke, who serves on the national commission.

The federal Highway Trust Fund, which pays for road work, is expected to be $8 billion in the hole by 2010, largely because gasoline taxes and truck tariffs have not kept pace with inflation and the skyrocketing cost of construction materials in recent years.

As well, federal rules regarding highway funding are arcane , and worthy projects can be left out of the mix for reasons not easily understood, transportation officials said.

The bad news isn't just from Washington. Carson City is making matters worse. Gov. Jim Gibbons and the Legislature failed to appropriately fund road construction over the next two years. Gibbons unfathomably declared his plan to increase spending by $1 billion a victory, but the plan falls far short of what is needed. Estimates for needed road construction range from $3.7 billion to $5 billion.

In the meantime, Nevada's traffic is crawling toward gridlock because of neglect, and the nation's highway system is in no better shape. Congress needs to come up with a solution to this problem and get traffic moving again.