As we all know, the main force behind the growth has been the expansion of the gaming industry. But it has also been encouraged by the extremely favorable business climate in Nevada, not only for gaming but for all industries. Las Vegas is the capital of capitalism. And the capitalists have been very responsible. Las Vegas is the most attractive and most modern major city in the world. Hundreds of thousands of people walk down its streets everyday just to marvel at its architecture. Las Vegas has some of the most desirable residential areas in the nation, and every year tens of thousands of Americans move here to retire.
Many good things have been done to accommodate all of this growth. Las Vegas developed one of the nation's finest water systems. Most of the large residential areas are part of planned communities, and urban sprawl has been kept amazingly under control considering the unbelievable rate of growth. The foresight of requiring dedication of right-of-way for wide boulevards along section and quarter section lines until this decade has helped Las Vegas avoid the traffic gridlock associated with other cities its size. The publicly-owned bus system, which did not even exist at the beginning of the decade, is now the finest of its size in the country. New freeways have been built to the north and east, and a beltway is being constructed around the city with local funds.
Yet all is not rosy. Gridlock is a daily occurrence and commute times have increased dramatically. Air quality is a major issue. People living along the freeways are demanding relief from the constant noise.
I represent a highway perspective. First and foremost, I would like to thank the Congress and especially Nevada's Congressional Delegation for the support they gave to Nevada last year in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century or TEA-21 as we have come to know it by. Nevada is now the recipient of $70 million dollars more per year in federal highway funds This is a 62% increase over the previous federal highway funding contained in the Intermodal Transportation Equity Act of 1991.
This is a hearing on livable communities. The question today is what can the federal government do to help us make Las Vegas a move livable community.
First, help us speed up our efforts to eliminate traffic gridlock by streamlining the environmental review process. This streamlining is called for in TEA-21, but appears to be bogged down. Often times the environmental process seems to be used as a way to slow down and try to kill a highway project by opponents who have little real concern for the environmental issue involved.
Second, make the air quality requirements more reasonable so that we can concentrate our resources on more important air quality problems. For example, even though there have been great improvements in the carbon monoxide level in Las Vegas in the last ten years, the basin is still considered to be in non-attainment because we continue to have two or three instances a year when levels exceed the standard instead of just one at only a single site. The carbon monoxide levels for the whole valley are judged on just one location on a couple of days a year. We should be concentrating more efforts on control of dust or PM10, which is a worse pollutant in terms of livability than carbon monoxide at one site.
Third, streamline the federal project delivery requirements for the popular "enhancement program," which includes such things as sidewalks, bicycle paths, landscaping, and restoration of selected historic buildings, which all improve the livability of the community.
Fourth, remove the prohibition on the use of federal funds to retrofit noise walls along the freeways. This will greatly improve the livability of those impacted by freeway noise.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify here today. This is an important issue to the Nevada Department of Transportation and to everyone who lives in Nevada.