Reno doesn’t need roads

“I had nothing good to say about the process. … I thought the process stunk,” Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said.

Some Southern Nevada officials might be grouchy about having less spending money, but they know the revenue shift addresses the valley’s most urgent need: more travel lanes on Interstate 15 and U.S. Highway 95. Traffic congestion here is getting worse by the month. It’s costing commuters time with their families, and it’s preventing California tourists from reaching their resort destinations.

Mayor Goodman and Clark County commissioners will bite the bullet, rather than risk the valley’s economy with a legal fight.

Reno, however, is another story. The City Council there is furious that it might have to delay City Hall renovations and court improvements. Councilman Dave Aiazzi said the highway funding plan, signed into law by Gov. Jim Gibbons, might be unconstitutional. He wants the council, at its Wednesday meeting, to authorize a restraining order that prevents the state from taking the property tax revenue starting July 1.

“We will look at the issue and see if there is a basis for a lawsuit,” Reno City Attorney John Kadlic said last week.

The city of Reno is certainly free to pursue a day in court to keep its precious revenue. But the fact that the city would take such steps to preserve municipal capital projects at the expense of area highway improvements proves a point we’ve been hammering home for years — Reno has no traffic problems worth mentioning, and road funding is an extremely low priority for the area.

Clark County taxpayers have been subsidizing Washoe County highway improvements for decades, allowing Reno to stay ahead of gridlock conditions while Las Vegas’ highway infrastructure becomes more and more inadequate. For example, the Nevada Department of Transportation is currently building the state’s own “Bridge to Nowhere” between Reno and Carson City, an extravagant project that will carry fewer vehicles per day than a minor Las Vegas surface street at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.

We certainly hope Gov. Jim Gibbons, legislators and NDOT officials take note of this lawsuit if it comes to fruition. When the 2009 Legislature convenes and resumes discussions on long-term highway funding and project prioritization, they should remember that the city of Reno considered public-sector office space more important than area freeway improvements. Southern Nevada projects should be at the front of the line for the next decade.

Thanks, Reno.