Casino Connection Nevada

Toll House

by Staff

The Nevada Transportation Board is looking at bringing back toll roads as a way to fund highway projects that are facing shortfalls because of the state’s budget crunch and the governor’s refusal to raise taxes.

The NTB approved a pilot project in Las Vegas, along U.S. Hwy. 95 and I-15. It would use existing HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes or create new ones connecting U.S. 95 and I-15, I-15 to the 215 Beltway and Summerlin Parkway to U.S. 95 and charge a fee for vehicles to use them with fewer than three passengers. It calls for flyover lanes connecting the I-15 and 95 so motorists can bypass on- and off-ramps and the traffic snarls at the Spaghetti Bowl.

“During these difficult fiscal times, it’s essential that we look at every alternative for funding our transportation needs,” said Governor Jim Gibbons.

 The toll-road proposal requires legislative approval in 2009. Lawmakers killed a similar proposal in 2007.

The demonstration project could cost upwards of $1.4 billion, with 88 percent of the cost coming from private entities.

While the exact structure of payments has not been finalized, one model calls for private entities to recoup their investment from the tolls collected at a fair rate of return, judged to be 13 percent. Earnings above that would be shared with the state.

Additionally, after the investors reach the goals of their investment, the lanes would be turned over to the state.

Private toll roads were popular in Nevada during the mining days of the 1800s. It is estimated that about 100 such roads, some as long as 200 miles, were laid out between 1850 and 1890.