Road to recovery

Major road construction projects in the Reno-Sparks area may get started this summer and fall if a voter-approved advisory question enjoys a speedy and successful trip through the upcoming state Legislature.

That's welcome news to highway builders who otherwise see little work on the horizon, particularly after the cash-strapped state government put major projects on hold.

An advisory measure approved in November by Washoe County voters would increase funding for the Regional Transportation Commission by raising the gas tax to adjust for inflation in the costs of building streets and highways.

If the Legislature gives its OK, the RTC expects to spend $250 million during the next three years or so, says Greg Krause, the soon-to-retire executive director of the Regional Transportation Commission.

That spending on roads would generate about 3,000 construction jobs, RTC estimates.

Kyle Larkin, manager of construction for Granite Construction, says all northern Nevada road and highway builders are being pinched this year and that legislative approval of the RTC's funding measure has the potential to greatly impact regional construction and subsequent employment.

"It is very important. I think that it is going to get those projects put in place early and potentially create jobs in our community as early as May of this year," Larkin says. "We have some good backlog in place that will last us another year or two locally, but if it doesn't pass it will have an impact on everyone's budgets."

Among the priority projects proposed by the RTC are:

* Construction of a Meadowwood interchange complex at $45 million to $50 million.

* Widening of Vista Boulevard to six lanes from Los Altos to Wingfield Springs at $20 million.

* Widening McCarran Boulevard from West Fourth Street to West Seventh Street at $64 million.

Additionally, the Regional transportation Commission has suggested working with the Nevada Department of Transportation to spur construction on northbound U.S. 395 from Moana Lane to the Spaghetti Bowl. Adding a lane to the section of freeway is estimated at $70 million to $90 million, NDOT spokesman Scott Magruder says. Although the engineering of the project is completed, the state doesn't have any money to build it.

Four other large-scale NDOT projects in the region are also on hold:

* A $200 million final phase of the U.S. 395 bypass from Fairview Drive to Spooner Summit in Carson City.

* Improvements and widening of I-80 from Vista Boulevard to Robb Drive.

* Widening U.S. 395 from North McCarran Boulevard to Stead.

* Widening, new interchanges and safety improvements on Pyramid Highway from I-80 to Spanish Springs.

"These are the projects identified to get us through the next decade or two," Macgruder says.

The RTC's Krause says with successful legislation the earliest the RTC could award construction contracts is late April or early May.

"That is going to be really pushing everything," he says. "But that is our hope. We are getting a lot of encouragement because it is so needed, and because we did get the support of the public. We believe we have quite a bit of bipartisan north and south support. We are feeling optimistic, but we certainly don't take it for granted."

The vote by Washoe County voters in November wasn't binding just advisory and that's why RTC now needs the Legislature's approval.

Larkin says Granite isn't banking on legislative approval of the ballot question and that it still will be a down year for area road and highway contractors.

"Everyone is feeling budget cuts; we are not alone in that. We are interested in seeing what a federal stimulus package brings we don't know what it might bring for Nevada, but I don't really see a turnaround for us until next year."

Krause says that tying the gas tax to construction costs will help highway work keep pace with the demand.

"Unlike the sales tax, which adjusts for upward movement of inflation, and unlike the property tax, which adjusts upward as properties appreciate, the gas tax is flat," he says. "For 15 years at the state and federal levels, there has been no increase."

Krause estimates that in the past five years alone road construction costs increased more than 30 percent.

"We were losing purchasing power and falling behind year after year after year," he says.

State, local and federal gas taxes each currently run about 18 cents a gallon, Krause says. The proposed increase would bump next year's gas prices up 2 cents a gallon, and the following year raise them between 2 and 5 percent.

"Two cents per gallon doesn't sound like much, but if we forecast that into the future, that allows us and we think this is somewhat conservative to bond $80 million per year for the next three years," Krause says.

"It allows a major stimulus to the economy."