Legislators promote ‘Interstate 11’ with Las Vegas as hub

CARSON CITY — Large portions of U.S. highways 93 and 95 should be upgraded and converted into a new north-south Interstate 11 freeway, legislators decided Monday.

Members of a legislative committee studying logistics, infrastructure and transportation unanimously approved a resolution calling on Congress and the Federal Highway Administration to designate U.S. 93 from the Mexican border to Las Vegas and U.S. 95 from Las Vegas to the Canadian border as the future I-11.

Development of the new freeway would help Nevada become the distribution and manufacturing “Capital of the West,” the committee said.

“We are trying to do what we can to create jobs for Nevadans,” said Assemblyman Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas.

He said last week’s report that Nevada’s 14 percent unemployment rate tops the nation makes it crucial for the Legislature to do what it can to encourage businesses to locate or relocate in Nevada.

After the meeting, though, Nevada Department of Transportation Assistant Director Kent Cooper said that the federal interstate system has been completed and that there is no federal money available for additional freeways.

He said the cost of the new freeway would run into the billions of dollars. He also said that traveling on the existing roads is relatively quick except for urban areas.

But Cooper said it makes sense to designate the highways for a future interstate because there are no north-south interstates between California and Colorado.

Maricopa County officials in Arizona also have been pushing for the new interstate, he said.

In another effort to boost the state’s economy by improving the roadways, the committee voted to ask the Transportation Department and the state’s congressional delegation to develop a state Route 805 that would run 21 miles south from the Reno-Tahoe Industrial Center off Interstate 80 east of Reno to Silver Springs and U.S. Highway 50.

A private developer already has built a part of the four-lane highway to state standards, but there is an uncompleted section.

Completion of the road would cut about 15 minutes off travel times to Reno and help develop the industrial center.

Cooper said a $40 million cost has been placed on the project.

The Transportation Department is completing an environmental study. Once that is done, the project could qualify for federal funds.

The committee called on the next governor to include funding in the next state budget for an advertising campaign to promote Nevada as having “the best business climate in America” and being the “manufacturing and distribution Capital of the West.”

In an earlier meeting, economic development officials said many business people visit Las Vegas for fun but don’t consider relocating their businesses to Nevada, although it has one of the lowest business taxes in the nation.

In their quest to attract manufacturing and distribution centers, committee members called on the Legislature next year to pass a bill to give sales, property and other tax breaks to companies that put logistics-based or renewable energy businesses in the state.

In urban areas, such businesses would be required to have at least 50 workers and pay average wages equivalent to at least 80 percent of the average hourly wage in the state.

The average rate now is $20.05 per hour, legislative staff members said, and the companies would have to pay an average of $16.04 per hour.