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The only constituents dumber than Kalifornicators are Nevadans who let their representatives subsidize Kalifornicators.

Friday, July 05, 2002
The Las Vegas Review-Journal
ROAD WARRIOR: Nevada, California share goal of easing I-15 travel

Nevada tourism officials have taken a keen interest in a California highway project.
The California Department of Transportation recently completed its study of a proposed six-lane highway, dubbed the High Desert Corridor, to link Palmdale and Victorville. By facilitating travel between Interstate 15 and Interstate 5, the $1.5 billion project would help alleviate congestion on Interstate 15, which is a major concern to area tourism officials.
Traffic on I-15 at the California-Nevada state line has increased by an average of 3.9 percent a year in the past five years, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the implementation of stricter security at airports, the numbers have climbed even faster, with traffic on the route up by 11 percent this year.
"What was a 4 1/2-hour drive now takes six to seven hours on busy weekends," said Tom Skancke, a transportation consultant and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority lobbyist on the High Desert Corridor project. "If I'm in L.A. I just don't want to go on I-15.
"We have to give Southern Californians two options to get to Las Vegas. We have to get another north-south and east-west arterial."
Fortunately for valley officials, California officials agree.
The CalTrans study said the High Desert Corridor is needed to accommodate growth in the area that has created an "alarming disparity" between road capacity and demand.
Lured by inexpensive housing and wide open spaces, population growth in some High Desert communities has grown by more than 300 percent in the past two decades.
Motorists on I-15 now encounter Southern California commuter traffic as far north as Victorville.
Although I-5 is a logical alternate route to escape the Los Angeles metropolitan area before eventually connecting to 1-15, Tim Anderson, a longtime resident of Victorville and radio station manager, said many motorists avoid that option. That's because to link to I-15, drivers also would have to traverse state routes 138 and 18, both of which are viewed as dangerous.
"It's a one-lane highway through a rural area," he said, describing the route as "very treacherous."
While area officials' intense interest in the High Desert Corridor isn't unusual, the fact California and Nevada officials agree the project needs to be built is.
Nevada transportation officials long have monitored California's plans for major routes to the state and lobbied for what they believed were needed improvements. Kent Cooper, the Nevada Department of Transportation's assistant director for planning, said in the past California officials viewed I-15 congestion largely as a Nevada problem.
"The prevailing attitude in California was, `Why spend money to build a road so our citizens can go to Las Vegas and spend hard-earned dollars in the casinos?' " he said.
The state's differing road building priorities led to Nevada taking some unusual steps to help get California roads built.
At the tourism industry's urging, Nevada became the first state to send a portion of its federal road funds to another state when about $26 million was handed to California for improvements to Interstate 15 near Barstow. More recently, Clark County sent $7 million to the Golden State for reconstruction of the Needles Highway, a major route to Laughlin.
On the High Desert Corridor, Skancke is helping galvanize the High Desert communities on the issue and assist them in lobbying Washington for funds to build the project.
"He monitors it, expedites it and intercedes," said Manny Cortez, president and chief executive officer of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Cortez believes the cooperation on the High Desert Corridor project is a sign California has changed its view that I-15 is a Nevada problem.
"In the last several years, they've grown to realize I-15 is more than the highway to Las Vegas, but is also important to their ability to survive," he said. "As congestion increases they need to make sure those roads are passable. That's why they're cooperating."