Lawmakers seek limits on toll road projects

By Cy Ryan

Saturday, March 14, 2009 | 2 a.m.

With the Nevada Transportation Department seeking to test toll lanes in Clark County, lawmakers want the state to set standards for such public-private partnerships.

The Transportation Department will submit a bill to the Legislature for a toll lane pilot project on 19 miles of Las Vegas Valley freeways. Under the plan, a private company would widen the freeways and charge a fee for use of the new lanes.

The tolls would vary based on the level of traffic congestion at the time.

“This will be a very public process,” said Kent Cooper, the Transportation Department’s deputy director.

But lawmakers and others expressed skepticism over the proposal and similar plans at a hearing this week.

Paul Enos, a lobbyist for the Nevada Motor Transport Association, a trucking industry group, said adding toll lanes to roads paid for by motorists “sets a bad precedent.” In some cases, states have been left holding the bag when the toll roads haven’t generated enough revenue, he said.

Critics have called toll projects “a pickpocket partnership” with government, said Sen. John Lee, D-Henderson.

Lee introduced Senate Bill 206 to set standards for the partnerships and prohibit existing highways from being converted to toll roads. The bill would allow tolls only on new roads built by private companies.

Cooper said the department would ensure the public gets the best deal. The department would solicit bids and carefully analyze them before awarding a contract. It will be at least four to five years before motorists would be able to use the toll lanes, Cooper said.

SB206 was referred for study to the Senate Energy, Infrastructure and Transportation Committee.

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There have been five regular sessions of the Legislature and nine special sessions since 2000. Assemblyman Tick Segerblom hopes to make some of those special sessions unnecessary.

The Las Vegas Democrat has proposed a constitutional amendment to hold annual budget sessions limited to 60 days.

The Legislature meets for 120 days in odd-numbered years.

The amendment would also boost the pay of lawmakers.

Lawmakers elected or reelected in 2008 receive $146 a day for the first 60 days of a legislative session. Holdover senators earn $137 a day.

Segerblom’s Assembly Joint Resolution 6 calls for lawmakers to be paid for the full 120 days.

Voters in 1958 approved a constitutional amendment for annual sessions. After the first one was held, voters quickly approved an amendment to return to sessions every two years.

Annual sessions were again proposed in 1970 and voters rejected the idea. In 1976, voters turned down a plan to pay legislators for 100 days of the session.