As the Las Vegas Valley continues to grow, keeping pace with needed road and infrastructure improvements will prove vital to area transportation, but recent funding issues could affect future projects in Southern Nevada.

This year major projects such as the Interstate 15-Tropicana interchange project are winding down and the Maryland parkway bus rapid transit project are moving along. Other infrastructure projects planned for the area are going to be tougher to plan as inflation has a significant impact on funding for projects in Las Vegas and Nevada.

As Nevada Department of Transportation director Tracy Larkin Thomason said, “Funding is their favorite ‘F’ word,” but that word has been tougher to come by in recent years.

“It’s a struggle at this time, we’re not going to lie about it,” Larkin Thomason said last week during a transportation panel breakfast for commercial real estate development association NAIOP Southern Nevada. “We’re looking at the highway state fuel tax and the federal fuel tax was established in 1993. … So, we’re building a 2025 transportation system on a 1993 budget.”

Budget

NDOT’s working budget for 2025-26 is estimated to be $896 million, with $608 million derived from federal dollars.

“We now have a federal program that is 61 percent of our program and with the recent change in administration, it’s been a lot of uncertainty,” Larkin Thomason said. “It’s calming down, things are moving forward.”

The 25-26 budget is 25 percent lower than NDOT’s budget in 2023-24, which was $1.2 billion.

Since 2021 construction inflation has increased by 68 percent nationally and between 50-60 percent in the Silver State, Larkin Thomason said.

“Which just means there’s less projects going out,” she said. “When we look at our state dollars, we have to make sure that our employees are paid, we have to make sure that our lights are on. We’re doing our sanding, we’re doing our plowing. We’re doing the safety things that we need to do.”

Deferred projects

Because of rising construction costs NDOT had to cancel nearly all projects solely funded by state dollars, Larkin Thomason said.

“But we still are on track for a number of the big ones as we’re talking about the grants,” she said. “We do have a number of grants throughout the state and we don’t want to miss out on taking advantage of those federal dollars.”

NDOT spokeswoman Kelsey McFarland later clarified that the projects Larkin Thomason spoke of aren’t canceled in full; they are just being deferred to another budget cycle. The only project fully canceled was the planned Downtown Access Project, which could’ve overhauled a key stretch of Interstate 11, also known as U.S. Highway 95, through downtown. The project, which could’ve cost north of $5 billion, was ultimately canceled because of environmental issues and cost concerns.

Despite the funding issues Larkin Thomason is confident that the department will make it through the rocky time.

“We always survive,” Larkin Thomason said. “I’ve been through a number of recessions. We’re resilient. Nevada is a resilient state, but we’re going to go through one of those cycles right now.”

Fuel revenue indexing

Regional Transportation Deputy CEO David Swallow said inflation is a key concern for the Southern Nevada transit agency, but especially in recent years.

“We’ve seen steep inflation in the last couple of years, especially coming out of the pandemic.”

Swallow highlighted the importance of the fuel revenue index program enacted in 2013, which is tied to inflation.

“With that, it’s helped us keep pace with inflation,” Swallow said. “Yeah, we’ve had some challenges in the last couple of years. It’s great that we came out of the pandemic, but I think that surge in demand also created some challenges in getting materials that the supply chain was tight and with that the prices go up. It’s economics 101.”

Last year the index rose by 2.9 cents to 23 cents per gallon of gas sold going toward the program that raises funding for road projects. The inflation rate is based on a 10-year rolling average of the producer index, but it cannot exceed 4 cents per gallon per year, according to the RTC.

Fuel revenue indexing is one of the three key sources of highway funding in Clark County. Motor vehicle fuel tax and sales tax are the other two major sources.

The revenue index funding was approved by Clark County voters in 2014 after the 2013 legislative approval, for an initial three-year term. In 2016, Clark County voters approved a 10-year extension of the program through 2026.

With the valley continuing to grow and the improvements that have already been made eventually needing repair, Swallow said the FRI is a crucial funding mechanism for Clark County.

“Going forward we’re still going to see increasing demands for development and expanding our roadway network. Not just expanding it but maintaining it. We’ve literally spent billions of dollars on our road network, and it’s a really good road network, but we’ve got to maintain it too. So, it’s really important to us to have that funding in place to keep all the infrastructure in a state of good repair.”

Future of FRI

Swallow is confident that the fuel revenue indexing program will again be extended next year, either by a vote or legislative action.

“Right now, there are some talks about legislatively possibly doing a short-term extension for the program to keep it going to ensure that we continue to have that robust funding source in place,” Swallow said.

The RTC’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget is $1.1 billion, with sales tax being the largest funding source at $327 million (29 percent), according to the RTC website.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.

CARSON CITY, Nev. (KOLO) – Attorney General Aaron Ford urged consumers to check their generic drug purchases from 2009 to 2019 as Nevada joined a multi-state coalition today, March 26, filing a motion for preliminary approval for a $39.1 million settlement with Canadian pharmaceutical company Apotex over conspiracy to inflate prices and limit competition.

“My office will always stand up against companies who illegally manipulate the market and harm Nevada consumers,” Ford said. “Consumer protection is one of my office’s top priorities, and I strongly urge Nevadans to check their eligibility for compensation in this matter.”

To view the drug list or register, go to www.AGGenericDrugs.com.

Last fall, Ford and the multistate coalition announced a settlement in principle with Apotex along with a $10 million settlement with Heritage Pharmaceuticals.

At that time, the Apotex settlement needed signatures of the states and territories involved. Those signatures have been obtained.

To determine eligibility, call (866) 290-0182 or email info@AGGenericDrugs.com

Copyright 2025 KOLO. All rights reserved.

Nevada City, CA – On Tuesday the Nevada County Board of Supervisors approved fund acceptance for a new grant to mitigate wildfire risk in Penn Valley. The Lower Deer Creek Project targets 1,000 acres of hazardous fuels reduction around critical infrastructure, key roadways and areas in the Deer Creek Canyon above and adjacent to Lake Wildwood.

The Phase 1 grant totaling nearly $700,000 will be used to support community engagement and complete treatment design and environmental compliance. An additional $200,000 of in-kind match will be provided by Firewise Communities for their efforts in coordinating this project.

“This funding is a critical step in making our community more resilient to wildfire,” said Supervisor Sue Hoek. “Lake Wildwood is a densely populated community with limited evacuation routes, making it hard to evacuate, especially when minutes count. This project will help firefighters protect this community and the surrounding areas during a wildfire.”

Lake Wildwood is one of five communities identified in the 2024 Evacuation Study as being the most evacuation constrained County-wide. This new award, which comes via the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), represents the first major investment to address the outcomes of the Evacuation Study at scale. Several recommendations cited in the study such as the creation of shaded fuel breaks along Bitney Springs Road, Pleasant Valley Road, and Mooney Flat Road are included in the project scope.

Phase 2 of the project will consist of over $4 million in hazardous fuels reduction work.

“It is rewarding to see the strategic plans that make up the Roadmap to Resilience be leveraged to get work on the ground in key locations,” said Alex Keeble-Toll, interim director of emergency services. “We have taken what we learned from our community and technical experts to successfully advocate to funders for impactful wildfire mitigation projects.”

Both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Lower Deer Creek Project require a 25% match that will be satisfied through the in-kind participation of Firewise Communities in the project footprint. The Lake Wildwood Firewise Community has been especially instrumental in helping to define localized priorities for treatment, including those around water tanks, water treatment facilities, and in the Deer Creek canyon and will continue to be integral to project success.

“This area has seen two major destructive fires in the past 35 plus years, both of which threatened large parts of Lake Wildwood,” said Barbara Tiegs, former Chair of the Lake Wildwood Firewise Committee. “This is one of the most densely populated areas in Western Nevada County, and as a resident of Lake Wildwood, I’m very excited about the additional protection that will be provided.”

Next Steps

A Community Town Hall is planned for later this spring and an interactive parcel map will be stood up in advance of the Town Hall so that residents can verify if they are within the project area.

For more information visit ReadyNevadaCounty.org/LowerDeerCreekProject.

About the Nevada County Office of Emergency Services (OES)

OES works under the Emergency Preparedness Board Objective, leading the community in all hazards planning, preparedness, response, and recovery with a focus on wildfire. OES focuses on improving county-wide evacuation routes and safety, continuing to strengthen early alert and critical communication systems, and working with residents and community partners in emergency preparedness, defensible space, home hardening, green waste disposal, and fire- safe land stewardship. Learn more about OES Projects at www.ReadyNevadaCounty.org/Projects.