Clark County left out of first transportation projects

By David McGrath Schwartz

Thursday, March 12, 2009 | 6:18 p.m.

The first round of federal economic stimulus money was allocated Thursday, as the Nevada Department of Transportation Board of Directors approved a list of transportation projects to be funded throughout the state.

The first round of projects to go out to bid, about $73 million worth, will be in Northern Nevada.

Another $69 million in projects in Clark County will be put out to bid in August and September, said Department Director Susan Martinovich.

She said the department will track how many direct jobs the stimulus money creates.

In total, the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 sent Nevada $201 million for transportation projects. About $39 million of that was earmarked for Clark County. Another $9 million for Washoe County; and another $13 million for enhancements and rural areas.

NDOT received $140 million to allocate, and early on decided to spend the money on a large number of paving projects throughout the state.

An early version of the list showed the state would spend only $19 million of the $140 million in Clark County; the rest of the money would've been spent in Washoe and rural counties.

After the list was obtained by the Las Vegas Sun, an uproar ensued and NDOT officials backtracked from the list. Gibbons' administration officials also decided that NDOT would hold Thursday's special hearing to pass the final list of projects.

When a board member brought up the earlier list at Thursday's meeting, Martinovich said: "That list was not a list."

In the end, Clark County got 54 percent of the $201 million. Though Clark County has 70 percent of the population, Southern Nevada politicians did not oppose the final list.

Martinovich said the first round of projects will all be outside Clark County because the state is required to obligate at least $70 million within the next 100 days to qualify for additional federal money that could be coming. She said the NDOT projects in Clark County were not ready to put out to bid. She said the department wanted to spend money on projects it had ready, "so we could control our own destiny."

If the state successfully spends all its money within 120 days after the law went into effect, Nevada could qualify for additional money.

The Washoe County Regional Transportation Commission made a push to have all of the money allocated for repaving be diverted to an interchange project.

Martinovich worried the project would not get done in time, because the right of way has not been acquired yet.

After listening to Washoe County plead for funding for the project, NDOT Board Member Tom Fransway, a Humboldt county commissioner, had a question: "In the spirit of cooperation, would Clark County maybe be willing to delete any of their projects for the betterment of the state?"

The audience chuckled in disbelief, while Gov. Jim Gibbons hurriedly said no one in the room could answer that question. He moved for a vote, and the project list passed.

Asked later if Washoe County (which ended up with 14 percent of the money) or Clark County were getting their fair share, Gibbons begged off the question, and said the $140 million was allocated based on a federal formula.

The governor's spokesman, Dan Burns, later clarified that Gibbons' misunderstood the question.

List of Projects in Clark County approved.

- $40 million to be spent on projects as prioritized by the Regional Transportation Committee of Southern Nevada.

- Landscaping, US-95 Martin Luther King to Rainbow, $9 million

- Preservation - I-15 East Mesa Interchange to South Mesquite, $14 million

- US-95 From SR157 to SR 156, $26 million

- I-15 Stateline to 17 mile marker north, $20 million