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Nearly $9 million in grants announced for road projects on Nevada federal lands

Page Last Updated: Wednesday January 13, 2010 2:01pm PST

The view of the Pyramid Highway.

The U.S. transportation secretary announced nearly $94 million for federal lands road projects in 31 states including nearly more than a million dollars for the Pyramid Highway corridor that runs through Sparks, Nevada.

While sixty-eight road projects in 31 states will receive $93.9 million in Public Lands Highways grant funds to improve access to public lands, Nevada will get $9 million most of it for southern Nevada, according to a news release issued by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.

"The roads that carry America to and through its national parks, tribal lands or any of the other federal lands need help, just like the rest of the national highway system," LaHood said. "These funds will help protect the roads for the many who depend on them and improve the quality of life for communities served by these unique places."

The funds will improve and increase accessibility on the lands of 15 Native American tribes, 11 military bases, 19 national park units, 10 national forests and four national wildlife refuges, according to LaHood.

The following is a list of the projects funded by the program:

-Pyramid Lake Highway Corridor, Sparks: $1,425,000
-Boulder City Bypass improvements: $855,000
-Extension of Starr Road to Saint Rose Parkway and Henderson Starr Road Interchange at I-15: $1,187,500
-I-15 Sloan to Apex Interchange: $475,000
-Southern Nevada Beltway Interchanges: $2,850,000
-SR-160 Blue Diamond Highway -- Las Vegas to Pahrump: 2,612,500

Federal lands roads are maintained by various tribal and federal agencies, unlike most of the nation's public roads, which are managed by state departments of transportation, LaHood said.
Funds from the Public Lands Highways grant program supplement their existing infrastructure programs. They can also be used for cities and counties that are responsible for the roads providing access to federal and tribal lands.

Other examples of this year's grant recipients include:

 More than $4 million will be used to help improve road access to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stonycreek Township, Pa.
 Nearly $3 million will be used for road improvements near the forthcoming American Veterans Disabled For Life Memorial in Washington, D.C., between I-395 and the U.S. Capitol. The memorial is anticipated to be completed by 2012.
 Nearly $2 million will be used to make tribal road improvements on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota.
 Nearly $1 million will be used for alternative transportation improvements around the Fort Baker area in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California. This work includes pedestrian connection improvements, upgrades to National Park Service shuttle buses, planning for bio-diesel refueling capacity, and installation of signs, bicycle racks, benches and other related equipment.
 More than $1 million will be used to complete construction of the SR 101/ t3ba'das Parkway on the Skokomish Indian Reservation, Washington.

This is the largest amount of grant funding awarded to public lands roads since 2002, and the second largest in the 79-year history of the Federal Highway Administration's Public Lands Highways program, LaHood said.

Additional detail about the program can be found online at http://flh.fhwa.dot.gov/programs/plh/discretionary.

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COMMENTS

G .

January 13, 2010 8:51pm PST

Mark as Offensive

It's very nice of the government to spend our borrowed money this way. I'm sure it will be only union workers, most likely brought in from " out of state ".
I think maybe we should stop borowing money and pay our bills down for awhile.
When I go down the list of projects it sounds like PORK to me.