Monday, March 3, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Rep. Jim Gibbons is dipping his straw into the huge ISTEA money pool in an effort to draw $184 million over the next five years to build a long-awaited bridge over the Colorado River.
Gibbons, R-Nev., is co-sponsor of the measure before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's subcommittee on surface transportation. Rep. Bob Stump, R-Ariz., is the other primary co-sponsor.
The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, or ISTEA, is a $180 billion allocation to repair and rebuild the nation's highways and bridges.
The Colorado River bridge project has long been needed to replace the 60-year-old two-lane highway across Hoover Dam that is accessed by, as Gibbons' proposal states, "dangerously winding and steep approach roads."
However, the project, price-tagged at $140 million in the early 1990s, has been the subject of protests from Boulder City residents who don't want to make it easier for increased tractor-trailer traffic to rumble through their picturesque town.
Currently, 1,430 tons of hazardous materials cross the dam from Arizona and travel through Boulder City on a daily basis, according to the Regional Transportation Commission.
The federal government's three proposed sites for a new bridge -- over Promontory Point, Sugar Loaf Mountain or Gold Strike Canyon -- all would reconnect with U.S. 93 east of Boulder City and continue on through the community.
A number of Boulder City residents want the government to reconsider a site near Willow Beach, farther to the south.
The government, however, is bound by a 1966 federal law that requires the selection of a route that will have the least negative impact on national park lands, in this case the Lake Mead National Recreational Area.
The Willow Beach route would strike through the heart of the recreation area before connecting with U.S. 95 west of Boulder City. As a result, Park Service officials have taken a hard line against that route because it would put endangered species at greater risk.
Regardless of the eventual route, many agree that if the new bridge ever is to get built, it undoubtedly will need ISTEA money.
Gibbons is seeking 100 percent federal funding because the new bridge would be "a replacement of a federally owned facility (that) is being built across the federally owned Hoover Dam Reservation."
The funding package seeks $7 million for 1998, $25 million for '99, $55 million for 2000, $57 million for 2001 and $40 million for 2002.
Public officials have estimated it will take at least 10 years before such a bridge is up and operating.
Last week, Rep. John Ensign established his priorities for ISTEA funding of Nevada transportation projects. The wish list totals nearly $759 million.
Although he did not list the Colorado River bridge as one of his priorities -- Ensign designated the widening of U.S. 95 between downtown Las Vegas and the northwest portion of the valley as his No. 1 priority -- he did list the bridge among the projects he supported.
"The construction of a new bridge to divert large truck traffic away from Hoover Dam is an important safety initiative," Ensign wrote in a Feb. 25 letter to Rep. Thomas Petri, R-Wis., chairman of the subcommittee on surface transportation.
"(The current bridge) experiences a heavy flow of large trucks transporting hazardous materials in mixed traffic. ... It is in the interest of the federal government to protect its investment in the Hoover Dam by taking steps to decrease the possibility of accidents and hazardous spills."
Gibbons' and Ensign's priority requests for federal funds for transportation projects would require a combined $943 million from ISTEA. Add to that Ensign's request for unspecified money for related urban air quality research and Nevada's House delegation ISTEA requests could top $1 billion.
Gibbons said an "extensive study" has been done on the feasibility of the bridge project, including October 1990 and August 1992 reports issued by the Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees the dam and the river.
A resolution was passed by the Nevada Legislature in 1995 urging Congress to take action to alleviate the heavy truck traffic over the dam.
The Nevada and Arizona transportation departments also support a new bridge.
"As the only commercial route between Nevada and Arizona, this highway over the Hoover Dam is most likely the worst cross-state bottleneck in the nation and certainly one of the most hazardous," said Nevada Department of Transportation Director Thomas Stephens in a Feb. 21 letter to Gibbons.
"Nearly 1,500 trucks and buses (per day) must cross over the double-yellow line into the oncoming lane of traffic in order to snake their way through the approaches to the dam."
Also, U.S. 93 over Hoover Dam has been sited as a key link for the North American Free Trade Agreement. It has been designated as part of the route that creates the shortest distance between Calgary, Alberta, and Mexico City.
The first version of ISTEA, passed in 1991, was a $151 billion plan that was considered revolutionary. It expires Sept. 30, resulting in the need for the new ISTEA.
The new package calls for 111,000 miles of roads and highways to be built, resurfaced, widened or made safer. Tens of thousands of bridges will be replaced or improved.
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