Agency hits the road with stimulus funding

It was a good day to be in the paving business.

The Nevada Department of Transportation's board of directors Thursday approved a list of projects, made up almost entirely of paving projects, to be funded by federal stimulus money.

Nevada received $201 million for transportation projects from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The approved list included $209.4 million in "shovel ready" projects, of which $109 million, 52 percent, will be used for projects in Clark County.

About $27.6 million, 13 percent, will be spent in Washoe County. The remaining $72.8 million, about 35 percent, will be spent in rural counties, including Pershing, Elko, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Nye and Carson City.

The project list price goes above the allocated stimulus funding in case bidding on the projects comes in lower than expected, transportation officials said. If the bids come in higher than expected, state funding will fill in the gap.

The statewide list included $39.7 million in projects the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada approved Thursday morning. That list was made up entirely of paving projects.

Because $39.7 million is not considered a lot in terms of transportation projects, the Transportation Commission divided the money up among the different governments in Southern Nevada based on a formula of population and assessed value of property.

The breakdown gives $16.3 million to Clark County; $10.1 million to Las Vegas; $4.8 million to North Las Vegas; $6.3 million to Henderson; and $1 million each to Boulder City and Mesquite.

Of the $209.4 million on the statewide list, all but four of the projects funded by the stimulus package are paving projects.

The four include a $9 million landscape project on U.S. Highway 95, from Martin Luther King Boulevard to the Rainbow Curve; $3.6 million for a safety crossing over U.S. Highway 93 in Elko County; $3 million to add a mile of rail line to the V&T tourist railroad in Carson City; and $27.6 million to help fund construction of the Meadowood interchange off of U.S. Highway 395 in Reno.

The statewide list of projects also fit within guidelines of the stimulus act, including a stringent deadline, which if not met, means the state could lose part of the funding.

The state has 120 days from the signing of the act, which happened in February, to allocate at least $73 million of the stimulus funding. If that is not done, that funding would be sent back to Congress for reapportionment.

While the state and local governments have until February 2010 to spend the rest of the stimulus money without fear of losing it, they seem intent on spending it as quickly as possible.

Transportation Commission General Manager Jacob Snow said he hopes to meet the 120-day deadline so that if other states don't, Southern Nevada would be in a prime position to pursue any reapportionment funding.

Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904.