Road rage

Friday, April 17, 2009 | 2 a.m.

It is not uncommon for lobbyists in Carson City to try to slip a provision into a bill, hoping the benefits they accrue courtesy of the Nevada Legislature will slide under the radar. It is quite a different thing, though, when a state agency attempts to deceive lawmakers.

That’s precisely what happened when the Nevada Transportation Department misled legislators in an effort to gain support for its half-baked toll road plan for Interstate 15 and U.S. 95.

David McGrath Schwartz reported last week in the Las Vegas Sun, a sister publication of In Business Las Vegas, that the department was criticized for failing to make clear to legislators that the proposed scheme contained in Assembly Bill 524 would have involved surrendering lanes built with tax dollars to a private company to operate as toll lanes. The criticism from legislators came after the Sun reported on details of the toll plan.

Talk about larceny at the expense of taxpayers.

It’s a good thing that Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas, decided to let AB524 die.

Transportation Department Director Susan Martinovich said she could have done a better job explaining the plan but that she was also honest in her legislative testimony. It was naive of her, though, to believe that taxpayers would have tolerated a scheme in which lanes they have already paid for would have been turned over to a private company for its profit.

Because the plan could still be resurrected as an amendment to another bill, legislators should be vigilant and make sure this idea never sees the light of day.

Lawmakers should instead focus on other ways to relieve traffic congestion along Southern Nevada’s crowded arterials, but only as long as those alternatives are in the best interests of the public.