Completion dates for two road projects pushed back

Mayor Joe Hardy tacitly acknowledged that Boulder City gets, perhaps, more than its fair share of funding from the Regional Transportation Commission, given the city’s size.

He expressed that feeling when he said during discussion of the RTC-funded Nevada Way reconfiguration project during last weeks council meeting, “We get a good amount of funding. I’m not saying just a fair share. We get a good amount.”

Listed on the consent agenda for the same meeting was news that two RTC-funded projects have seen their projected completion dates pushed back to June of 2030. The two projects include street improvements related to the under-construction Nevada State Railroad Museum Visitor Center and Linear Park as well as improvements to the intersection of Veterans Memorial Drive and Adams Boulevard, and evaluation of options for improvements to the intersection of Nevada Way and Arizona Street.

Funding for both projects was accepted by the city council back in 2019 with completion slated for 2025. Along the way, there have been a series of revisions to the original agreement. In the case of funding for the museum project, when proposed, the Nevada State Railroad Museum Visitor Center and Linear Park did not have an access road. Staff worked with RTC to secure funding for the design of an access road to connect Yucca Street project. Construction of the road “provides access to all aspects of the railroad museum as well as to the adjoining businesses along Boulder City Parkway,” according to a city report. In 2021, the completion date was extended once because, at that time, state funding for the museum had not been finalized. In 2022, the source of the funding was changed from the general state fuel tax to the index fund attached to that tax. Overall, project funding was decreased in 2023 and, with this latest agreement, completion has been pushed back even further.

The street project near Veterans Memorial Park will include traffic signal design and intersection improvements for the Veterans Memorial Drive and Adams Boulevard intersection and an evaluation of options for improvements to the Nevada Way and Arizona Street intersection as part of a 2020 Intersection Improvements project aimed to maintain and improve transportation system infrastructure.

Like the museum project, the source of funds was changed to the same fuel tax index fund and now the completion date has been pushed back for five more years.