norman
country-financial
March 28, 2024 7:10 pm
Your hometown Newspaper since 1987.
Search
Close this search box.

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK: Moapa Valley’s Turn For Transportation Dollars

By VERNON ROBISON

Say what one will about the people in Bulldog country, you have to give them credit.  Mesquite residents are deeply supportive and wildly enthusiastic about their city and their local business sector. After all, where else but Mesquite would the opening of a new freeway interchange draw such a large crowd for such a grand celebration as occurred on Thursday morning at the opening of Exit 118?

Of course, there’s no doubt that there was definitely a lot to celebrate! Mayor Al Litman was right in saying that the interchange would “usher in a new era” of commerce for the city. Indeed, it will likely spur a measure of growth to the whole surrounding region as well, even including Moapa Valley.

First off, the new interchange will accommodate the significant volume of trucking that already flows into the Mesquite Technical and Commerce Center (MTCC). For the past ten years, the Do It Best distribution center there has waited for this project. Do It Best officials reported that the center averages 80-100 trucks per week coming through their facility. That’s 6,800 trucks per year that will no longer have to traverse the surface streets of Mesquite! That will be nice for those of us who regularly brave the perils of the dual roundabouts at exit 120.

But more than that, the interchange will attract new businesses and enterprises to the MTCC. Many prospects have been waiting for the project to be complete before they make commitments to relocate to Mesquite. Others are already planning to break ground. No doubt, Exit 118 will soon be a very busy place.

What’s more, the grand interchange provides a beautiful gateway into the City of Mesquite. At a cost of $20 million in Fuel Revenue Index funding, it seems no expense has been spared. The esthetically pleasing archways and artwork depicting local vistas are remarkable. The exit is well designed to handle a high volume of tractor trailer traffic. It is a truly exciting development, launching an exciting time for the city and the region. Mesquite residents, and indeed Moapa Valley-ans alike, have great reason to celebrate it.
Congratulations Virgin Valley!

Of course, amid all of this celebration, it is difficult for a Moapa Valley resident like myself to look at Exit 118 and not draw some dismal comparisons to our own lonely local freeway interchanges. Of course, Exit 93 (Logandale/Overton) and Exit 91 (Glendale/Moapa) are nowhere near as fancy. There are no arches, no landscaping, no artwork, no grand entry into the communities – nothing there to indicate that they are anything more than a small country crossroads.

But the fact is, though they look that way, they are not! For decades now, the Logandale/Overton exit 93 has seen far more semi-truck traffic than the Mesquite MTCC has yet come close to experiencing. The operation at Simplot Silica supplies a steady stream of trucks up and down State Highway 169 and over the Exit 93 interchange through all hours of the day, five days a week. According to Simplot, the plant averages 1,400 trucks in and out of the facility every month. That’s roughly 16,000 trucks per year! Now that’s a lot of sand, a lot of trucks, a lot of fuel, and a lot of fuel tax! Yet very little of those revenues have ever made their way to Moapa Valley.

This is evident in the dilapidated design at exit 93, which is nothing short of pitiful. The haphazard, thrown-together arrangement for northbound traffic merging onto State Highway 169 is just a deathtrap waiting to spring. The overpass and onramps are pitch dark at night and difficult to navigate. I counted no less than 38 brand new low-light-polluting street lights at the new Exit 118. There are only two tired old streetlamps at Exit 93. This is all: to accommodate 16,000 trucks per year!

Moapa’s Exit 91 is even worse! It is just as dark. The southbound exit that dumps across the road at Glendale is just a nightmare waiting to happen. And it’s inexplicable bifurcated “design” is utterly confusing to visitors.

What’s more State Highway 169 coming into Logandale is in a frightfully neglected condition! Far from a welcoming gateway into our community, poor motorists driving into town must have their teeth rattled around in their skulls as they travel the horrible road into the valley. It has been far more than a decade since any road work has been done on the highway and it shows.
It is not like we haven’t asked for improvements. We have made the requests again and again to both legislators and agencies.
We really don’t ask for anything extravagant, really.

Sure, we would love to have esthetically pleasing offramps, with beautiful arches, stunning artwork, and enough street lamps to light up Chicago. But to be truthful, we would settle for just a few design improvements on our interchanges – just enough to make it so that we don’t have to fear for our lives every time we try to get off the interstate.

Sure, we would love to have a brand new alternate truck route through the valley; a route that would better accommodate those 16,000 trucks per year and divert them off of our main street. But we would settle for an overhaul of the existing highway. Start by smoothing out and fixing the road into town so that our youngsters don’t sustain shaken baby syndrome every time we make a trip out of town. Then maybe widen out the highway in key places to allow for turn lanes. These things would go a long way.

But we have received next to nothing in transportation funding over the years. When we ask, we have been told that there is not enough traffic on our highways to merit such expenditures. Apparently, not enough accidents resulting in fatalities have occurred to meet the complex NDOT funding quotas.

But those explanations ring hollow when drawing the unavoidable comparison to Exit 118. There was no traffic and no fatality requirements at all to merit that $20 million expenditure. That project was awarded purely based on an opportunity for future economic growth.

Highway spending seems to be less about traffic and more about lobbying. It is not fatal accidents that we lack, but adequate representation at the State Legislature on our behalf. We have no city government with its own budget, to hire someone to pull for us in Carson City. Our county government has apparently always had more important things to do up there than worry about our transportation needs. And our representatives at the legislature have been busy with other things like the admittedly worthy cause of procuring $20 million for Exit 118.

But now a new session at the State Legislature is approaching. Early next year, elected representatives will be returning to Carson City to make decisions on how and where money should be spent.

As the elections are currently underway, now would be the perfect time for Moapa Valley residents to send a clear message to our would-be representatives about the dire conditions of our local transportation system which is under the state’s control.
Considering all of the trucking traffic our highway and interchange sustains, and all the revenues that this traffic generates, this is an item that needs attention. Moapa Valley voters just need to cry out for it. It needs to be a high priority for the four State Legislators who will be working on our behalf.

In the end, the time has come that something needs to be done about this situation! This community has been waiting patiently in line for funding for long enough. It is Moapa Valley’s turn for its share of the state’s transportation dollars!

Print This Article:

Share This Article:

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Screen Shot 2023-02-05 at 10.55.46 PM
2-21-2024-fullpagefair
4 Youth Service WEB
2-28-2024 WEB Hole Foods St Patricks
No data was found
2023 WEB BANNER 2 DEFAULT AD whitneyswater
Mesquite Works Web Ad 10-2020
Scroll to Top
Receive the latest news

Subscribe To Our Weekly Newsletter

Get notified about new articles