Nevada Road Stimulus Helps Rural Areas Most So Far

Rural Nevada has benefited the most from federal highway stimulus dollars so far, receiving 63 percent of Federal Highway Administration funding for roads and other transportation projects, according to an Associated Press analysis of reporting records.

Nevada will receive a total of $201 million for highway projects under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by Congress earlier this year to jumpstart the nation's lagging economy and save jobs. So far, $104.7 million has been appropriated for 27 projects. Of that $66.3 million is for projects in rural areas, and $16.2 million has been spent so far.

Roughly $24.2 million has been allocated for projects in Las Vegas' Clark County, home to some 1.9 million people. But of that, only $69,000 has been spent, according to federal reports dated Oct. 23.

In contrast, northern Nevada's Humboldt County, with a population of 18,000, has benefited from $7 million, about half of which has been spent.

"Most of the work that's been done has been in the city of Winnemucca," said Bill Deist, Humboldt County manager.

Deist said the overhaul of Winnemucca Boulevard, the town's main drag, and the paving of U.S. 95 between Oregon and Las Vegas, have been on a wish list for several years.

He said the paving work helped keep a local asphalt plant operating.

U.S. Reps. Shelley Berkley and Dina Titus, Democrats whose congressional districts encompass the Las Vegas metropolitan area, have criticized Gov. Jim Gibbons' administration, saying a House committee report showed Nevada lagging most other states in allocating the funds for "shovel ready" projects.

"This funding was meant to be spent quickly and efficiently to maximize its job-creating potential," the two wrote in a September letter to the governor. Since then, Nevada's tourism-driven economy, hard hit by the recession and a collapsed housing market, has worsened. The state's unemployment rate hit a record 13.3 percent in September.