MINUTES OF THE meeting

of the

ASSEMBLY Committee on Transportation

 

Seventy-First Session

March 6, 2001

 

 

The Committee on Transportationwas called to order at 1:40 p.m. on Tuesday, March 6, 2001.  Chairwoman Vonne Chowning presided in Room 3143 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada.  Exhibit A is the Agenda.  Exhibit B is the Guest List.  All exhibits are available and on file at the Research Library of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

 

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Mrs.                     Vonne Chowning, Chairwoman

Ms.                     Genie Ohrenschall, Vice Chairman

Mr.                     John Carpenter

Ms. Barbara Cegavske

Mr.                     Jerry Claborn

Mr.                     Tom Collins

Mr.                     Don Gustavson

Ms.                     Kathy McClain

Mr.                     Dennis Nolan

Mr.                     John Oceguera

Mrs.                     Debbie Smith

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:

 

Mr.                     John J. Lee

 

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Paul Mouritsen, Committee Policy Analyst

Geri Mosey, Recording Committee Secretary

 

 

OTHERS PRESENT:

 

Thomas Stephens, P.E., Director, Nevada Division of Transportation

Russ Law, Operations Analyst, Nevada Division of Transportation

Sohila Bemanian, Assistant Materials Engineer, Nevada Department of Transportation

Fred Droes, Chief Engineer, Safety and Traffic Division

Susan Martinovich, Assistant Director, Engineering Division

Ruedy Edgington, Assistant Director, Operations Division

 

Thomas Stephens, Director of Nevada Division of Transportation (NDOT), stated his staff of 1600 maintained 26 percent of the paved roads in Nevada.  Sixty percent of the miles traveled in Nevada were on NDOT roads and 82 percent of heavy truck miles were on those roads.  Eighty-nine percent of pavement damage was on NDOT roads (Exhibit C).

 

“Super projects” required years of planning and long-term commitments to finish them.  Super projects were done in phases to not interrupt traffic and took several years to complete.  NDOT had six super projects under construction.  The first phase of the I-15 project, that widened the road from Las Vegas to the California state line, was completed in September 1999 (Exhibit D).  Phase 2 and 3 would be completed by early 2002.

 

Chairwoman Chowning asked why it was a priority to get the people “out” of Las Vegas instead of  ”in.”

 

Mr. Stephens replied logic dictated casinos had more escalators coming “in” than going “out,” but the roads leaving Las Vegas had more problems.

 

Chairwoman Chowning commented the roads became congested when the many people in Las Vegas tried to leave at the same time.

 

Mr. Stephens commented people caught in traffic jams would choose to not come back to Las Vegas.  The roads were the state’s lifeline.  The second super project widened US 95 in northwest Las Vegas (Exhibit E).  The first phase should be completed by 2002.  The project had 18 feet high noise-walls that controlled freeway noise in residential areas.  Henderson had successfully used noise-walls to remove freeway noise.  A tremendous right-of-way effort was underway to purchase 122 homes, apartments and businesses for phases 2 through 5.  The complete project was expected to done within five to six years.

 

Mr. Nolan asked if the trees in the Big Springs area of Las Vegas had been removed during construction.  Mr. Stephens replied no.  A noise-wall had been placed around the trees to protect them and preserve the ambiance of the park.  The water district owned most of the property and monitored the area.

 

Mr. Claborn asked where construction was on the beltway project.  Mr. Stephens replied the beltway was being done by Clark County and had been completed up to Sahara Avenue.  The bridge over US 95 was done and work was progressing towards the Summerlin Area.  A double frontage road with signals had been built along Decatur.  The county and state had construction agencies that performed work in that area.  The county built their freeways without traffic on them and NDOT had to keep existing freeways open during construction.  NDOT’s construction was difficult and costly. 

 

Mr. Stephens stated the third super project was the bridge on the Colorado River (Exhibit F and G) near Hoover Dam at Sugarloaf.  Arizona and Nevada had contributed $20 million each to the project.  The federal government had paid $75 million and was expected to contribute another $85 million to $100 million.  The project’s environmental study had taken 11 years to complete and should be signed in June 2001.  The remaining super projects were the Carson City bypass that completed the freeway from the base of Lakeview Hill around to US 50 and the completion of I-580 from Reno to Carson City (Exhibit H).  The Boulder City bypass was under federal environmental study and had no start-up date.

 

Mr. Carpenter asked how a bridge across the Colorado River would be constructed.  Mr. Stevens replied it would cost over $1 million to move the power poles and every effort would be made to not disturb the bighorn sheep or Indian artifacts in the area.  The bridge had an arch design and would be compatible with the dam.  The bridge allowed tourists on it and provided a beautiful view of Hoover Dam.  The only commercial route between Arizona and Utah was the Hoover Dam and congestion was terrible.  The project should be completed by 2006.

 

Mr. Claborn asked if Mr. Stephens could get the committee updates on the NDOT construction booklet.  Mr. Stephens answered affirmatively.  Because of the changing project details the book was updated annually.  Environmental and hydraulic issues were of great concern in highway construction.

 

Mr. Claborn stated the book gave a good overview of what Nevada wanted to do in the coming decade and outlined road construction priorities.

 

Chairwoman Chowning commended Mr. Stephens on the pedestrian bridges that had been constructed on the Las Vegas strip.  Tropicana and Las Vegas Blvd. had the most accidents of any intersection in Clark County.  The pedestrian bridges had improved safety on the corner.

 

Mr. Stephens stated a barrier had been placed on the east side of Tropicana to prevent people from jaywalking.  Pedestrian deaths had decreased last year in Las Vegas.

 

Chairwoman Chowning felt everyone should be a “tourist” and visit the strip and the pedestrian walkways.  The view from them was spectacular.

 

Mr. Stephens clarified that Clark County had built the pedestrian bridges at the corner of Flamingo and Las Vegas Blvd.  The casinos had built an additional bridge between Treasure Island and the Venetian.  Recent flooding had caused problems with the pedestrian escalators.  Repairs had been delayed because the parts came from France.

 

Chairwoman Chowning thanked Mr. Stephens for his department’s hospitality during the previous tour and commended his department on their cost savings and usage of increased technology.

 

Mr. Stephens replied increased technology had improved the quality of designs and had decreased the design timeframe.  Nevada had worked diligently to preserve its highways and stop road deterioration.

 

Russ Law, Director, Operations Analyst, Nevada Division of Transportation, handed out the executive preservation report (Exhibit I) and talked about the cost of preserving Nevada’s highways.  Currently Nevada had a $340 million repavement and $140 million bridge repair backlog.  NDOT had reduced the previous preservation report backlog of $670 million by spending $330 million on pavement preservation and $145 million on bridges.  Nevada’s interstates received $40 million annually from the federal government for maintenance.

 

Chairwoman Chowning asked where maintenance money came from.  Mr. Law replied the majority of the money came from the .17065 cent per gallon state gasoline tax and a special fuel tax of .27 cents collected from the Department of Motor Vehicles.

 

Chairwoman Chowning commented that although people resisted taxes, the money was used to maintain Nevada’s roads. 

 

Mr. Law stated they had reduced the maintenance backlog by $190 million or 520 miles of roads.  The state-maintained system of roads showed (Exhibit I) that major work was needed on the major and minor collector roads.  The lower level roads had a backlog of $200 million.  The bridges in Nevada were relatively new and in good condition but repairs were expected in the next decade.  Most bridges would reach their lifespan of 50 years by then.  Eight-five million dollars of the bridge backlog was seismic retrofit work.  Interstate reconstruction and timely overlays outlined in the 1999 action plan had been completed.  The new action plan outlined additional overlays and hoped to discover cheaper ways to repair lower level roads. 

 

Sohila Bemanian, Assistant Materials Engineer, Nevada Department of Transportation, discussed the proactive payment preservation program of NDOT.  The program saved taxpayers $30 to $40 million annually.  The replacement value of NDOT’s roadways was $3 billion (Exhibit J) and the preservation program protected that investment in a cost-effective way.  Maintenance activities cost $12 to $15 million annually and included flush seal, chip seal, snow removal and roadway clean up.  Contract activities cost $100 to $200 million annually and were conducted by contractors.  Any pavement that reached a “poor” condition of maintenance required four to ten times the amount of money to bring it back to “good” condition.  NDOT had changed their reactive approach to a proactive one and had seen significant cost savings.

 

The reactive approach took approximately 32 to 36 months to repair any road identified in poor condition.  The proactive approach streamlined that process to 17 months.  Overlays done on roads before deterioration started, cost $250 thousand per mile and saved the state $30 million annually.  Future projects would prioritize projects based on deterioration rates, establish a fixed dollar amount for annual deterioration, and improve structural design, materials and construction practices.  NDOT was working to find cost effective and innovative ways to address low-volume roads.  The Federal Highway Administration looked to NDOT for examples of pavement preservation.  NDOT had received a national award for its program.  All departments in NDOT worked together toward the common goal of maintaining and improving Nevada’s roadways and saving the taxpayer money.

 

Ms. Ohrenschall asked about the safety factor of repairing the roads before they deteriorated.  Ms. Bemanian replied proactive construction practices reduced the traveling public’s exposure to safety hazards.  Vehicle maintenance and fuel consumption were affected when the roads were in poor condition.  “User” costs were substantially higher than actual costs of road repair.

 

Mr. Carpenter commended NDOT on the proactive approach.  Ms. Bemanian replied other states were amazed that Nevada was able to change its mode of operation in only four years.

 

Fred Droes, Chief Engineer, Safety and Traffic Division, stated his division had 19 staff and they administered the highway safety improvement program and maintained the crash database.  The crash database identified high-crash locations in Nevada and determined appropriate safety measures.  The annual crash report was available on the department’s web page, www.nevadadot.com.  Various law enforcement agencies sent their crash reports to the department and pertinent data was entered into the database by five full-time employees.  Nevada had approximately 60 crashes per year.

 

The safety department received $4 million to $5 million annually from the Federal Highway Administration dedicated to reducing crashes on public roads throughout the state.  A high-crash location is any urban roadway that received 30 or more crashes within a 3-year period or 10 or more cashes in rural areas.  The Las Vegas area had over 200 high-crash locations last year.

 

Ms. McClain asked what was being done about the crashes at the large eight-lane intersections.  Mr. Droes explained the department focused on what they could do in each high-crash location.  Tropicana and Las Vegas Blvd. had approximately 120,000 cars travel through the intersection daily.  Some problems could not be solved because of the nature of the roadway or because of the cost.  The review team analyzed each high-crash location and compared costs to benefits.  A benefit-to-cost ratio greater than one was likely to be funded.

 

Chairwoman Chowning asked if the number of crashes statewide had decreased.  Mr. Droes responded fatal crashes had declined but overall accidents had increased because the population of Nevada was increasing.

 

Chairwoman Chowning asked what the most dangerous intersection in Nevada was.  Mr. Droes did not know.  Tropicana and Las Vegas Blvd. had 450 non-fatal crashes in 2000.

 

Ms. McClain commented a recent news report had rated Tropicana and Las Vegas Blvd. as No. 1, Paradise and Tropicana as No. 2 and Paradise and the strip as No. 3.  Mr. Droes replied no fatal accident had occurred at Tropicana and Las Vegas Blvd. in 2000.

 

Mr. Droes replied his department spent $800,000 annually to upgrade or improve railroad crossings in Nevada.  Recent department projects had included driveway modifications on Tropicana near the MGM Grand casino, a center median island with pedestrian countdown signs and the widening of sidewalks in that area.  The fatigued-driver crash reduction program installed 16-inch wide “rumble-strips” along shoulder lines statewide.

 

Chairwoman Chowning had heard of a three-person fatal crash in Ely that was caused by the rumble strip and asked if the new ones had been installed there.  Mr. Droes replied they had installed over 1,000 miles of rumble strips throughout the state but was not sure of the actual locations.  The tired or inattentive driver caused the most run-off-the-road accidents.

 

Mr. Droes said intersection improvements were done in Douglas County and on the US 395 railroad pass.  Red-light indicators were placed on the back of signal lights to aid law enforcement in the apprehension of red-light violators.  Safety audits were conducted on two-lane highways to improve safety before widening could take place.  The improvements included wider striping of center and shoulder lines, more signage, clearing of brush and weeds, passing lane implementation and speed limit review.  Guardrails were inventoried and brought up to federal standards.  High-crash areas that involved pedestrians were studied for pedestrian safety improvement.  Law enforcement agencies, traffic and safety offices, and the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) worked together to improve the roadway systems and reduce fatalities.

 

Mr. Carpenter was concerned about precautions not being taken to correct high-crash areas until fatalities occurred.  He questioned the safety tests done on rumble strips.

 

Mr. Droes stated the new rumble strips were narrower and approximately three-quarters deep.  They were put closer to the roadway and left room for cyclists on the roads.

 

Mr. Nolan asked if NDOT had explored the possibility of putting emergency phones on rural roads.  Mr. Droes replied his division had not looked into that.

 

Mr. Gustavson asked where the red-light indicators had been installed.  Mr. Droes clarified the first ones were put in Las Vegas and additional ones had been installed in Reno.   

 

Chairwoman Chowning thanked Mr. Droes for his work on behalf of the traveling public.

 

Susan Martinovich, Assistant Director, NDOT Engineering, stated her department identified the state’s needs and maximized funding.  Past and future capacity projects were outlined in Exhibit K.  The number one goal of all projects was safety.  All approved transportation board projects had funding approved for design and construction.  Environmental processes, right-of-way issues and funding constraints affected super capacity projects.  The department developed projects with input from construction, maintenance and individual districts.  All projects that used federal funds had National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) approval (Exhibit L).  NEPA approvals had various levels and could take years to obtain.  The Right of Way division secured the necessary acquisition of property (Exhibit M).  The property was engineered to specific legal descriptions and appraised by independent appraisers to determine the effect on the remaining property.  All owners of homes acquired in the US 395 expansion had been relocated to comparable or better locations.  The process could take up to 18 months and involve nonfriendly negotiations.  NDOT contained features that avoided right-of-way problems because of recent court rulings on the value of undeveloped property.  All road designs followed national and federal standards and any exception had to be approved by the FHA.  Design issues were hydraulics, constructability, materials, safety, and traffic control.  The challenge was balancing the users needs with the contractor’s needs.  Increased contractor limitation resulted in higher construction costs.  Roadways had a 20-year lifespan and bridges had a 50-year lifespan.  Archaeological findings, endangered species, difficult right-of-way negotiations, coordination with other public agencies, and design specifications all affected road designs.

 

Ruedy Edgington, Assistant Director, Operations Division, stated all NDOT projects were awarded to the lowest, responsible bidder from the prequalified contractor list.  A preconstruction conference addressed safety issues and traffic control.  The Nevada Alliance of Quality Transportation Construction (NAQTC) provided consistency to roadway testing.  Contractors were paid as the work was completed and project documents were audited for accuracy.  The maintenance division was the “unsung hero” of the department.  They worked on accidents, natural disasters and removed snow when needed.  All maintenance workers were American Traffic Safety Association certified and helped people with car problems on the freeway.  They repaired pot holes, mitigated weeds, checked signs and lights, and striped the roads.  The Materials Division tested road materials that consistently scored above the median.  The Western Regional Payment Center at the University of Nevada at Reno worked closely with the Materials Division.  All equipment was inventoried and maintained by the department.

 

Mr. Nolan thanked the entire staff of NDOT and was impressed by the service they provided to Nevada.  Mr. Stephens replied they were very happy to come before the committee.

 

Chairwoman Chowning replied they had seen many of NDOT’s departments during the committee’s tour of NDOT and were very impressed.

 

Ms. McClain stated she was happy to see women in upper-management positions in a traditionally men’s field.

Mr. Stephens replied he had recently nominated Ms. Martinovich to the Attorney General for the “Outstanding Women Award.”  She and Ms. Bemanian were outstanding engineers in a conservative, male dominated field.

 

Chairwoman Chowning commended Mr. Stephens and his staff for the excellent exhibits they had presented.  She was very proud of the roads in Nevada and appreciated the additional education presented to the committee today.  She questioned whether the million dollar appropriation for the Vista interchange had been spent.

 

Mr. Stephens replied the money had not been spent.  The Vista interchange project was expected to cost $45 million and the transportation board needed to decide if they were going to proceed with the project.  The road went across the Tahoe-Reno industrial park and connected to I-80 at the Tracy area.  It would be a completely new state highway.  The board was hesitant to recommend a new highway in Lyon County when two other projects there were still underway.

 

Ms. Martinovich explained the $1 million was for the NEPA document and design of the interchange.  The developer would bill NDOT for the work already done on the design.

 

Mr. Stephens said the interchange gave the project access to the interstate and would cost $20 million.  The remaining $25 million was the cost of building the new highway across the mountains. 

 

Chairwoman Chowning stated the committee would wait to decide on A.C.R. 6 until the NDOT board decided what direction they were taking on the project.  She thanked Mr. Stephens and his staff for the excellent presentation.  Seeing no further business the committee was adjourned at 3:33 p.m.

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

 

Glenda Jacques

Committee Secretary

 

APPROVED BY:

 

 

                       

Assemblywoman Vonne Chowning, Chairwoman

 

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