Road builders dream of jobs, highway projects

Is it possible that transportation projects could hoist Nevada out of the economic gorge created in part by skyrocketing home foreclosures and unemployment?

Well, according to members of a task force called the Nevada Vision Stakeholders Group, they are as important to our economic health as are economic diversity and developing a more educated work force to lure Fortune 500 corporations to Southern Nevada.

Consider this: If Regional Transportation Commission general manager Jacob Snow's list of transit projects was funded right now, 93,000 construction workers would have a job. Some 80,000 construction workers statewide are unemployed. Unfortunately those projects would cost a total of $10.2 billion, money the state doesn't have.

Snow also has a high-priority list of 80 projects, at a cost of $7.9 billion.

You start to get how these endeavors affect the economy when figures such as these are tossed about: If those projects were funded, it would create 5,000 jobs, drive $300 million in wages and salaries, and pump $700 million into the economy through delivery of materials and contributing factors such as workers eating out and shopping in town.

The numbers are impressive, but one can't help but wonder if it's at all possible. I mean, my debt would go away and life would be dandy if I hit Megabucks, provided nothing horrific happened to me, which tends to be an unsettling pattern with Megabucks hitters.

Anyway, Snow brought a couple dozen engineers, architects and construction workers to the Interim Finance Committee meeting Thursday trying to show legislators what their financial assistance has done in the past. They all represented firms that were able to keep employees because lawmakers approved state Senate Bill 5, which lifted the sunset on one-eighth of a cent in sales tax that was approved by voters in 2002. Because of action during last year's special session, the commission started 28 new projects and sold $170 million in bonds.

"We were able to sell the bonds and pass it on to the private sector," Snow said. "There were no new government jobs, but we created a couple thousand private-sector jobs."

Aside from reminding me how brutally boring legislative hearings can be, members offered a few other interesting ideas on how transportation can be critical to a city's comeback.

As expected, the high-speed rail line between Southern Nevada and California came up, because of its potential to bring hundreds of thousands more tourists to Las Vegas.

With DesertXpress the apparent train of choice, map after map was displayed showing the contiguous rail lines from San Diego north to San Francisco and Sacramento. Maps of our route showed a line from Las Vegas to Victorville with nothing but a dotted
let's-hope-this-is-built-someday line to Palmdale, a stop along the California system.

I've only heard proponents of the rival magnetic levitation train publicly state that a line ending in Victorville might be problematic, so it was a pleasant surprise to hear Snow say, "the healthy skepticism is deserved."

But Snow, chairman of the Western High Speed Rail Alliance, said the group recently received $1 million in federal funds to study the Victorville-Palmdale link and a Las Vegas-Phoenix route.

Another potential economy booster is McCarran International Airport. It already is the sixth busiest airport in the country, and a new international terminal is nearly complete.

Vision group panelists said Las Vegas could become an inland port because new 787 Dreamliners expected to go into service later this year should be able to go 8,500 miles without refueling, making Las Vegas a cost-effective hub for nonstop international flights to places such as Southeast Asia and Macau.

Similar improvements at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, which already has international nonstop flights, helped strengthen certain industries there, particularly in the financial sector.

McCarran has the potential to enhance Las Vegas's role in gaming and turn the city into a major player in the global trade scene. Equally important, panelists said, the city could become a hub for research and medical conventions with advanced newcomer medical facilities such as the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute and the Cleveland Clinic.

Expect an aggressive push to complete Interstate 11, the proposed CANAMEX trade route that would dip south below Boulder City and over the Hoover Dam bypass bridge. Even with the new $240 million span, U.S. Highway 93 has become a less-than-desirable route because of major backups at narrow stretches.

"That roadway is no longer reliable," Snow said.

Interstate 11 would be important for trucking goods in and out of Southern Nevada, and also to the vitality of the city's gaming industry. Snow said about 11 percent of Las Vegas tourists originate in Arizona and 90 percent arrive by car.

"We need to improve safety and reliability," Snow told lawmakers. "We don't want people from Arizona saying they're not coming back to Nevada because traffic was so bad going in and getting back."

Transportation has played a key role in reviving cities crushed by recessions, and plenty of power players strongly believe improving various components of our transit networks is a must in diversifying our economy as well as in creating jobs.

"We need to advance these important areas of concern to enhance the economy," said Richard Lang, a sociology professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call Adrienne Packer at 702-387-2904, or send an e-mail to roadwarrior@reviewjournal
.com. Please include your phone number.