Posted by Tom Mathews, Iowa Chapter Transportation Chair
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Thursday, August 12, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury
Editor's Note: Sorry, but Sierra Club is right on U.S. 95
The kneejerk wisdom is that the Sierra Club is out of control with its
lawsuit to stop the U.S. 95 widening project. After the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals decided last month to halt future phases of the widening until the
issues raised by the lawsuit can be debated further, a cloudburst of criticism
poured down on the Sierra Club. Club members reported receiving nasty threats.
Even normally level-headed commentators such as Review-Journal columnist Steve
Sebelius and the Las Vegas Sun editorial page urged the environmental group to
drop its case.
The primary concern is that the Sierra Club's lawsuit will unnecessarily
delay the widening and thus lead to greater traffic congestion on U.S. 95. Which
may be true. But this short-term thinking fails to consider the fundamental
objective of the lawsuit and the potential long-term value if it succeeds.
The Sierra Club's specific legal case centers on the impact that air
pollution from vehicles on the highway will have on nearby residents. This may or may
not be a scientifically valid issue. But the bigger issue raised by the
lawsuit is that there is no master transportation plan for the Las Vegas Valley.
Like so many important matters here, this just hasn't been adequately
discussed. In the predominant Vegas mindset, there is only what is good for us today,
and never mind next week, let alone next year or 10 years from now. What
makes us happy right now is the only consideration on the table.
As a result, we don't really plan for the long term. The widening of U.S. 95
is a good example of this. With continuing growth in the northwest valley, the
widened highway slated to open a few years from now will be just as congested
as the narrower highway is today.
What the Sierra Club is saying is fairly simple: Widening U.S. 95 may be a
legitimate part of the program to improve traffic flow in Las Vegas, but it
should be just one of several responses to the problem. Standing alone, it is far
from a panacea.
There are other ways to reduce traffic congestion on U.S. 95. For example, we
know that many northwest residents work on the south Strip. Maybe a program
could be set up to entice those Strip workers to park their cars at some
designated place in the northwest and ride an express bus to work. The bus or buses
could be dedicated to south Strip employees and there would be no stops before
their destination. MGM Mirage Mandalay, or whatever the merged monolith will
be called, could provide significant incentives for its employees to take the
bus. Perhaps a similar program could be established for Steve Wynn and Sheldon
Adelson's workers on the north Strip.
Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, says he isn't a traffic
planner and therefore doesn't have detailed solutions to U.S. 95 congestion. But
he says the Federal Highway Administration's lack of a master plan is galling.
"Obviously people are very frustrated by the traffic situation in Las Vegas,"
Pope says. "But the reality is that you can't solve gridlock just by paving.
You need to have an intelligent and diverse solution. You need to sit down
with the community and the experts and figure out not just a highway but a
solution. That's what we haven't been able to get from the highway administration."
A more ambitious commuter transit system clearly has to be in Las Vegas'
future. If, as expected, our population doubles in the next 20 years, I guarantee
10 lanes on U.S. 95 isn't going to cut it. Light rail has been the option of
choice in other metropolitan communities, including car-loving Western cities,
but it's very expensive. Nonetheless, Pope says, the key is to plan now. "You
gotta think ahead, because by the time you finish this freeway, it will be as
crowded as the old one was," he says.
Pope says the FHA's approach brings to mind the attitude of the Department of
Energy in its efforts to dump high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.
"Both involve arrogant federal agencies deciding on solutions before finishing
the studies," he says. "It's a top-down bureaucratic attitude. They don't solve
the problem, they just build the facility."
A large majority of Nevadans opposes the DOE's plan to dump nuclear waste 90
miles from Las Vegas. The state of Nevada has used legal action to try to stop
the project. Yucca Mountain critics rejoiced last month when a federal
appeals court sided with Nevada and threw a big wrench in the DOE's plans.
There is a strong parallel here with the Sierra Club's lawsuit. The
short-term pain of a delayed U.S. 95 widening could result in a long-term gain of a
true, visionary transportation plan for the valley. Maybe we should embrace these
tree-huggers rather than try to cut them down.
Fear of freedom
The new Iraqi government has shut down Al-Jazeera's Baghdad offices on claims
that the satellite news network was "inciting violence." So much for free
speech in President Bush's model of democracy in the Middle East.
--GEOFF SCHUMACHER
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