An open letter to Congresswoman Dina Titus

By Bill Erin

Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008 | midnight

Dear Congresswoman Titus:

Now that you have defeated Boulder City’s favorite son, Jon Porter, for representative of our 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, many of us are naturally worried that we will drop off the map as far as federal funding is concerned.

We are particularly concerned about the Boulder City Bypass promised to us by both the Federal Highway Administration and the Nevada Department of Transportation at the time the Hoover Dam Bypass was proposed.

President-elect Barack Obama has stated that one of his goals is funding for the country’s infrastructure as a stimulus to help turn the economy around.

In an interview with our parent daily, the Las Vegas Sun, you stated that your first focus would be the economically embattled 3rd Congressional District. You stated you are “hoping for a stimulus package that will provide money for infrastructure which would help the beleaguered construction industry...”

We applaud this goal, but we worry that the highway needs of the overgrown Las Vegas Valley will overshadow the very urgent need for the Boulder City Bypass. The fact that the Federal Highway Administration and NDOT are both saying it will be 2025 or later before our bypass can be funded has impact on more than just Boulder City.

U.S. 93 from the Arizona border through Boulder City and into Las Vegas is not only a major U.S. highway now, with traffic that overburdens our city streets, but is slated to become the CanaMex highway with convoys of Canadian/Mexican trucks and tourist traffic. Once the Hoover Dam Bypass opens in 2010, it is estimated 2,000 trucks a day, now banned from crossing the dam on 93, will pour through Boulder City on their way to Las Vegas and beyond.

In addition, two Las Vegas developers have had plans approved to build large “Las Vegas commuter” developments in nearby Arizona. This will add thousands of cars daily to already overloaded Boulder City streets that NDOT refuses to mitigate with stoplights or grade separations needed to assist Boulder City residents safe access, exit or crossing. It promises to be a traffic backup to end all traffic backups.

Add the proposed CanaMex traffic to this congestion well before 2025, and it’s difficult to imagine anything short of chaos on U.S. 93 through Boulder City. All of this traffic will be pouring from the multiple-lane Hoover Dam Bypass into a single lane funnel on the way to Boulder City.

Recently we discovered that one of the largest contract awards in the history of the Arizona Department of Transportation and Mohave County has been awarded for road improvements to the Hoover Dam Bypass from Arizona. More than $107 million will be paid to widen a 15-mile stretch of U.S. 93 headed to the bypass bridge. It was probably in preparation for “commuter communities” that developers promised to have under way when the Hoover Dam bypass opened.

It should be noted, Congresswoman, that of all the infrastructure projects in Southern Nevada, the Boulder Dam Bypass is the one that is ready, right now, to get going. All of the design, EPA studies and numerous other hurdles have been cleared. Work at the U.S. 93/95 junction connecting with Interstate 515 has been funded and preparations are being finalized.

It could be providing job stimulus to the Las Vegas area while other projects are still on the drawing board.

So we sincerely hope, Congresswoman, that when you prioritize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure problems, you will not overlook the Boulder City Bypass and its importance to Las Vegas traffic as well as the safety of our citizens here.

Signed: A concerned Boulder City resident.

Bill Erin is a Boulder City News columnist.