Excellent question. It’s one that's been weighed and debated and disagreed over since construction on the new bridge began -- especially, as you might imagine, in Boulder City itself, where residents and officials believe and fear that the bridge will simply relocate the choke point from the dam to the town.
Indeed, no one argues that contention. Tractor-trailers and other trucks have been banned from crossing Hoover Dam since September 11, 2001; for the past nine years, they’ve had to detour way around it on US95 through Laughlin. However, as soon as the Colorado River Bridge portion of the Hoover Dam Bypass project opens late this year, semis and the like will be allowed to use it. That’s good news for through truckers, but tough luck for the residents of Boulder City, through which an estimated 1,500-2,500 trucks will again drive each day,
The solution? The proposed Boulder City Bypass, a 17-mile superhighway that would divert truck and through traffic from the federal road coming off the new bridge, skirting south of the Boulder City Municipal Airport and downtown, then hooking back up to US93 just east of the US93-US95 interchange at Railroad Pass, roughly 25 miles east of Las Vegas.
The problems? First is the cost, estimated at between $300 million and $500 million (between $17 million and $30 million per mile). Second, an analysis done by the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) in 2007 indicated that the Boulder City Bypass benefit-to-cost ratio is negative (the only one of seven major state-highway projects analyzed that came in in the red). The NDOT claims that the earliest the Bypass could be built with state money is 2025.
Alternatives? A Boulder City state assemblyman has proposed building the Bypass as a toll road. The problem there is that tolling is illegal in Nevada; there’s not a single toll booth in the entire state. (Video monitoring of drivers is also illegal.) The lack of legal status for toll roads makes it tough to study the issue, given that the law has to be changed before anything else can happen. And the Legislature has had no appetite for tolls, shooting down the last three proposals to change the law.
And even if collecting tolls became an option, it might be tough to attract private financing for the Bypass, given that trucks could still use the US93 business route through Boulder City, which will always be free, and that the Bypass adds an extra 15 miles between the new bridge and Railroad Pass.
So, it doesn’t look like any way to avoid Boulder City -- and the traffic nightmare it could become starting this December -- will be available anytime soon. Even if tolling is eventually approved by state lawmakers, another several years are required to conduct studies, solicit bids, and finish planning for the Bypass. And an estimated two years are needed to complete the road, so if the process were started today, you wouldn’t be able to bypass Boulder City till 2015-2016 at the earliest.
