Cash a struggle for bypass

Porter cites need for more proponents

Boulder City's Bypass may end up being a pipe dream unless "creative ways" are found to finance the 10.4-mile, $350 million project.

That was the message coming from U.S. Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., who spoke at the Nevada League of Cities and Municipalities meeting Oct. 15 at the Boulder Creek Golf Club.

The issue of the much-delayed bypass surfaced when Boulder City Councilwoman Karla Burton asked the freshman congressman when the city might see some action, since she keeps "hearing it probably will happen, but no one's clear when it will happen."

"With an estimated value of $300 million to $400 million, funding has been a challenge," Porter, a former Boulder City councilman, mayor and state senator, replied. "You need to create partners for greater commerce. Boulder can not fight this alone. There's been word that the trucking industry wants to help."

Porter noted for the crowd of elected and public officials gathered in the pavilion tent that the national transportation bill currently under debate in Washington grants him only $50 million for projects in his district.

He said he's already earmarked $8 million for two studies for the project, emphasizing that as long as that money is there, it can be built on in the future.

"I know this is a priority project with Sen. (Harry) Reid as it is with all the Nevada delegation," Porter added. "We all need to look for creative ways to fund it and look at alternative ways, too. In terms of dollars, this is a huge project not just for Boulder City, but the whole Southwest."

Burton was heartened by Porter's comments.

"I'm a little more optimistic after what I heard," Burton said. "There's still going to be a lot of truck traffic coming up through the (Hemenway) valley, which means there's going to be a lot of accidents. I was very happy to hear, though, the trucking industry is on board."

Building an inspection station coming into town and creating a toll road that truckers would be required to use were two ideas Burton came up with when asked what might be contemplated.

The problem with the Boulder City Bypass skirting the eastern, southern and western flanks of the city is the Environmental Protection Agency, which is holding up the final environmental impact statement until questions are answered regarding the pollution of federal waters.

The EPA waylaid the impact statement more than six months ago and, according to Burton and fellow Councilwoman Andrea Anderson, there's still no word when the EPA regional office in San Francisco might make its decision known.

An approved impact statement is a prerequisite for a record of decision, a document that would officially designate the bypass as an allowable federal project that could be funded by the Federal Highway Administration and the Nevada Department of Transportation.

Meanwhile, the Hoover Dam Bypass project, a totally separate federal road project that was determined to have no affect on the Boulder City Bypass, keeps advancing toward a 2007 completion date.

With the completion scheduled far in advance of any Boulder City Bypass, the Nevada approach, the Arizona approach and the new Colorado River Bridge will link together, and daily will route hundreds of trucks -- previously routed off Hoover Dam because of post-9-11 concerns -- up U.S. Highway 93, through Hemenway Valley, and around the Buchanan Boulevard and Nevada Highway intersection.


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