President’s bold infrastructure plan is a vision Nevadans can get behind

Sunday, April 4, 2021 | 2 a.m.

President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan packs a huge amount of potential for Nevada to improve and enhance our roads and bridges, turbocharge our economy, blunt the worsening effects of climate change, fuel significant growth in long-term employment and improve the lives of working families in our state.

Among its elements, the $2.3 trillion package provides $200 billion for traffic infrastructure and public transportation, $25 billion to upgrade airports, $174 billion to stoke the proliferation of electric vehicles, $213 billion to weatherize homes in middle- and low-income areas as well as building and preserving affordable housing, $300 billion for manufacturing and $100 billion to maintain schools.

For an idea of how much Nevada would benefit under the plan, consider just one facet of it: potential funding for the completion of Interstate 11 between Las Vegas and Phoenix. Experts estimate that finishing the long-needed roadway would produce $24 billion in economic benefit and would generate nearly a quarter-million jobs along the route, including many in Nevada, while also facilitating a greater flow of tourism and convention traffic into Las Vegas.

And that’s not to mention the safety benefits of finally connecting the two metros, which now are the largest in the country not linked by an interstate. Although Nevada’s portion of the highway is complete, the route in Arizona is a hazardous hodge-podge of four-lane and two-lane U.S. highways.

Although Biden’s plan doesn’t specifically earmark funding for that long-needed project, Nevada leaders are optimistic that it will provide for I-11 if approved by Congress.

The same goes for two other projects that would boost our economy in Southern Nevada — expansion of I-15 to ease congestion between Las Vegas and California, and construction of the Brightline West high-speed rail connecting Las Vegas to Southern California. Biden’s plan also contains $80 billion for expansion of Amtrak service, opening the possibility of creating a line between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., stated it well in saying the plan would “boost our local economy and allow Las Vegas to remain a top international travel destination for decades to come.”

The price tag of $2.3 trillion over eight years would be largely paid for by a partial reversal of the previous administration’s tax cuts for corporations — increasing the rate to 29% from its current 21%. Although Republicans are crying foul over the proposed increase, it’s critical to remember that the corporate tax rate was 35% before the previous administration took office. Biden’s plan would keep the rate under that level while fueling a critically needed investment in the nation’s long-neglected infrastructure.

“It’s not a plan that tinkers around the edges,” Biden said. “It’s a once-in-a-generation investment in America unlike anything we’ve seen or done since we built the interstate highway system and the space race decades ago. In fact, it’s the largest American jobs investment since World War II.”

Biden noted, correctly, that this is an investment in America, and the investment will pay off in long-term prosperity and substantial economic growth. This is wise spending that will produce decades of prosperity in this country.

Clearly, the nation needs it. A country whose infrastructure once was the envy of the world has fallen to a point where we can’t even provide safe drinking water to entire communities and the quality of our roads, bridges and public transit systems has sagged to a C-minus level in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ annual assessment.

“America’s infrastructure is not functioning as it should, and families are losing thousands of dollars a year in disposable income as a result of cities having to fix potholes, people getting stuck in traffic or due to repairs when a water line breaks or the energy grid goes down,” said Greg DiLoreto, one of the group’s past presidents, to the Associated Press.

Biden’s plan would address all of those issues, including with a $111 billion investment to replace lead-pipe water systems.

Las Vegas’ infrastructure compares well with those of several communities in many respects — we don’t have to worry about lead pipes, thank goodness — but we definitely need upgrades and refurbishment in several areas. A glaring case in point is the Clark County School District’s deferred maintenance needs for its 336 schools, which are somewhere north of $4 billion.

Meanwhile, the Biden plan’s funding for affordable housing and to enhance energy efficiency in existing homes would meet a critical need for Las Vegas, where our recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and the vitality of our city in future years relies heavily on the ability of working families to maintain a good quality of life in our community. Those families provide the backbone of our economy — we must do all we can to ensure they can live here comfortably.

Southern Nevadans can rest assured that our congressional leaders in Washington will support the plan, but predictably it’s been met by opposition from the extremist Republican leadership in the nation’s capital. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and others have falsely described the plan as a “Trojan Horse” whose intent is to raise taxes on average Americans.

Wrong. It’s designed to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure back to its world-class status, to create jobs, to start undoing climate damage and to benefit American families, and it does it mostly by rolling back corporate tax breaks that further fattened the wealthy at the expense of middle- and lower-income Americans.

It’s not only rebuilding, it’s building back better. That’s what the nation needs.