Contractors urged to take cause to state Legislature

Revenue streams to fund transportation projects are likelier to come from state sources than the federal government, Skancke told about 100 members of the Nevada Contractors Association at The Orleans. It’s much easier to be heard in Carson City than on Capital Hill, he said.

“The government can’t grasp that our bridges are crumbling and our highways are deteriorating and we’re not investing in them,” Skancke said. “We’re spending $10 billion a month on infrastructure in Afghanistan that we should be spending here and we’re not.”

Since 1956, when President Dwight Eisenhower signed legislation to support the interstate highway system, the percentage of gross domestic product directed toward highway spending has dropped from 6 percent to 2 percent, the founder of The Skancke Co. said. China and Europe copied Eisenhower’s formula and are spending billions of dollars on infrastructure, he said.

Public transportation agencies are being asked to do more with less, specifically as it relates to planning, design and construction, and that’s why the industry is seeing more public-private partnerships for funding, said Rudy Malfabon, deputy director of the Nevada Department of Transportation.

That might mean collecting a toll on Interstate 15 and U.S. Highway 95 to pay for high-occupancy-vehicle lanes and an interstate highway from Phoenix to Las Vegas, he said.

“We got resistance because a lot of public money was spent on the HOV lane. Why should we give over to a private company to make money on it? The reason: We ran out of money to complete it,” Malfabon said.

Mike Hand, engineering services director for the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, said his agency gets the same 9 cents a gallon from the fuel tax that it was getting in 1995, even though the producer price index has outstripped revenue significantly.

He’s always looking for grant opportunities. The commission received
$34 million from the government’s TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant to fund the Sahara Avenue bus route.

One of the major highway projects going on in Las Vegas is the $246 million widening of Interstate 15 from Silverado Ranch Boulevard to Tropicana Avenue.

A portion of the project uses more than 1 million pounds of recycled tires to create a smoother, quieter driving surface, Stewart said. The $54 million second phase is expected to go to bid in 2013.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.