Traffic heads north on I-15 near the Lake Mead exits. I-15 between the Spaghetti Bowl and Craig Road is the only area that might be funded this year by the Nevada Legislature. Photo by John Gurzinski.

CARSON CITY -- When they returned to Carson City on Feb. 19 following the NBA All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas, Southern Nevada legislators regaled their colleagues with tales of horrendous traffic jams.

Assemblyman Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas, spoke of driving less than a mile in an hour.

Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, described a similar scenario.

Atkinson, chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, also advises anyone who cares to listen that hour-long traffic jams will become the daily routine in greater Las Vegas unless legislators find $3.8 billion to build highways.

"We're hopeful," said Atkinson on Friday. "We aren't going to get $3.8 billion from any one source, but we will get there."

It may be wishful thinking.

State Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, does not foresee legislators doing much this session about the shortfall in highway construction funds. Among the reasons she cites are Gov. Jim Gibbons' promise to veto any tax increase and the opposition to tax increases by many, if not most, legislators.

Daryl Capurro was the leading lobbyist for the Nevada trucking industry until his retirement last year. He also served on the Governor's Blue Ribbon Task Force that in December recommended the 2007 Legislature approve a series of tax increases and modifications to cover the shortfall in highway construction funds.

Capurro, who still lobbies at the Legislature, said he doubts the Legislature will do anything about the shortfall.

"The will is just not there," he said. "They all acknowledge the problem, but the political will isn't there to do anything about it. It is the most disappointing thing I've seen."

The $3.8 billion would pay for 10 "super" highway projects that would be built between 2008 and 2015. Most of them are in Clark County and include several U.S. Highway 95 and Interstate 15 widening projects.

The task force recommended the Legislature increase taxes by about $280 million a year. Then the Transportation Department would issue $3.8 billion in bonds. The tax money would pay off bonds over a 24-year period. Total costs would end up exceeding $7 billion.

While most legislators are not as candid as Titus, it is becoming evident as the Legislature begins its sixth week that little will be done this session on the highway funding shortfall.

"Governor Gibbons didn't do us any favors by pledging to veto any tax increase," said one legislative leader.

Then he groaned about how it takes him an hour after flying home on Friday afternoons to drive from McCarran International Airport to his office eight miles away.

Gibbons has repeatedly said he will veto any tax or fee increase, even those to relieve highway congestion.

In his State of the State address in January, he announced his intention to use $170 million in surplus dollars to widen Interstate 15 from downtown Las Vegas to Craig Road.

Later, Gibbons said he would form an advisory committee to research innovative ways to finance highway construction, but he has not named committee members.

Four weeks ago, Gibbons said he would not object if legislators put a question on the ballot asking voters to decide whether they should tax themselves to construct roads.

"If the public wants to implement a tax on themselves, that is up to the voting public," he said. "A vote of the public will supersede a governor's reluctance to raise taxes."

Conservative commentator, blogger and activist Chuck Muth cried foul over that proposal. He said legislators who want to tax citizens to build roads should gather 80,000 signatures like anyone else who wants to put a question before voters.

"Absolutely the roads are needed," Muth said. "But it shouldn't be easier for them to raise taxes than anybody else."

Rather than gathering signatures to put matters before voters, a process that requires about $250,000, legislators only have to pass a bill, according to Muth.

State Senate Transportation Chairman Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, dismissed Muth's criticisms.

"I don't think any legislator is too worried about what cyberspace bloggers are doing," he said. "We are the ones who have to sit down and get the facts and determine the needs of our motoring public."

That said, Nolan concedes the Legislature does not have many options to raise money for roads. A tax-for-roads ballot question would be the last option, but it should not be ruled out, Nolan said.

Capurro and Titus don't see that happening.

"I think we will approve the $170 million (to widen Interstate 15 from downtown Las Vegas to Craig Road) and that will be it," Titus said.

Others agree, but won't be quoted saying so.

Titus questions whether voters, particularly those in rural counties, would tax themselves to build roads in other parts of the state.

"What taxes would voters approve?" she asked. "Don't raise gas taxes. Don't raise property taxes. Raise gaming taxes. That is the risk you take when you put taxes before voters."

A poll commissioned by the Review-Journal in October 2005 found that 76 percent of Nevadans opposed increasing the gasoline tax to fund highway construction. In Clark County, home to the state's worst traffic congestion, 79 percent of respondents opposed a gasoline tax increase.

But some don't see a need for a road tax ballot question because, they say, there's no need for the projects it would fund.

The findings of the Blue Ribbon Task Force are not credible because a cost-benefit analysis wasn't done, said state Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas.

Two projects recommended by the panel, the widening of I-15 from Craig Road to Apex, and U.S. Highway 95 from Washington Avenue to Kyle Canyon Road, won't be needed for many years, Beers said.

Atkinson's committee held meetings with local government officials in the past two weeks to determine whether they have resources for highway construction.

"We don't know yet. We haven't crunched any numbers."

Atkinson said constituents have asked him to encourage legislators to levy the tax increases and override a Gibbons veto. But Atkinson said that is an unrealistic strategy because most Democrats also oppose increasing taxes. Tax bills must pass by a two-thirds majority.

Susan Martinovich, the newly appointed head of the Transportation Department, believes a way will be found this session to construct the super projects.

"There is a need," Martinovich said. "People can drive around Las Vegas and see it. The pressure is there to make something happen. I want accountability to show these are the right projects. If I make that commitment, I am hoping they will make a commitment to get us the money."

Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury said if funds cannot be found for all 10 projects recommended by the task force, the Legislature should compile a priority list and construct those first.

"That would mean the Clark County projects -- I-15, U.S. 95 -- could get top priority," said Woodbury, who served on the task force. "They (legislators) need to do it themselves. We can't wait for a vote of the people in November of 2008."

Lawmakers are also considering ways beyond tax increases. Bills under consideration would allow private investment in road projects.

After a meeting last month in Washington about public-private partnerships, Nolan left encouraged that there is private interest in building roads.

"It is not a panacea," Nolan said. "But if we don't do something to fund our highway needs this session, we will be in gridlock before the time when they actually starting putting asphalt down."

His committee will hold a March 27 hearing on the issue.

Titus, for one, opposes private ownership of state roads.

But Martinovich said she could envision additional lanes added to I-15 at private expense that might be dedicated to trucks or high-occupancy vehicles.

"They don't build roads out of the kindness in their heart," Martinovich said. "There has to be something in there for them."

Review-Journal writer Omar Sofradzija contributed to this report.

SUPER PROJECTS FOR 2008-2015

Southern Nevada