Toll road outrage

Sunday, April 12, 2009 | 2:09 a.m.

The Legislature on Thursday wisely dismissed a toll road plan the Gibbons administration had been shamelessly pushing. The Transportation Department had been trying to sell lawmakers snake oil, disingenuously saying the plan would provide extra traffic lanes and lessen congestion — all at no cost to the taxpayer.

Nothing could be further from the truth. David McGrath Schwartz’s reporting in the Las Vegas Sun last week unraveled the plan for lawmakers: The toll roads would have been created out of existing lanes on Interstate 15 and U.S. 95. The state would have given a private company those lanes to create toll roads running from Interstate 215 through the Spaghetti Bowl and up to Ann Road.

Instead of easing congestion, the plan would have added to it by cutting down on the number of “free” lanes on the highways. It also would allow a private company to profit off taxpayers who have paid for those roads.

The idea, and the fact that the Gibbons administration thought this would fly, is an outrage.

“Roads paid for by the taxpayer need to be left for the taxpayer,” said Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas. “If we paid for the road, a private developer can’t come in and feed at the trough and charge people to ride on it.”

Assemblyman Kelvin Atkinson, chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, said he was troubled by Transportation Department Director Susan Martinovich’s presentation of the plan. He said she never clearly said that existing state roads would be handed over to a private company.

“I didn’t think we got honest and straightforward answers,” said Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas.

The proposal was nothing more than smoke and mirrors, an attempt to make it look like the Gibbons administration was doing something about congestion in the Las Vegas Valley.

The only ones who would have benefited from this plan are the toll road operator, which would have profited handsomely, and Gibbons, who could claim he upheld his no-new-taxes pledge and still “built” new roads.

The attempt to use deception to give away taxpayers’ property to private industry is shameful and unfortunately all too typical of the Gibbons administration.