LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo says he understands the frustrations of drivers caught in Las Vegas's near constant traffic, calling it the price the valley is paying for its growth.
And he said relief is on the way for residents who saw their natural gas bills skyrocket during the cold winter months.
In an exclusive sit-down — the first in his new offices near Harry Reid International Airport — Lombardo addressed a wide variety of subjects he's taken on in the year that he's been governor.
When it comes to traffic, Lombardo calls it "the unfortunate piece of expansion in population and in actually time, you know, the wear and tear on the infrastructure." He said the variety of jurisdictions in Southern Nevada sometimes makes coordination between local and state agencies difficult.
"There should be some coordination there," Lombardo said. "It seems like these construction jobs take a lot longer than it should be, right? You're used to building one of these mega resorts, or you're building a home, or its a business or whatever it is, but that's without any other business going along with it.
"It's a sequestered, area that is self-facing and self-efficiency and they build without anything in their way. These projects encumber ongoing traffic and the traffic has to continue. You've got the lane restrictions and the signaling and all that and you have to work around that."
Although major freeways such as the Interstate 15 have been closed overnight or even for a weekend, it would be impossible to close them for extended periods of time, even if it would speed construction on projects like the reconstruction of the Tropicana interchange.
But why, for example, couldn't the state Transportation Department delay work on one major freeway that serves the valley — say, U.S. 95 — until work is complete on the I-15? That would at least give drivers in the southern part of the valley one route to downtown and beyond that's not under construction. (Work is currently being done on both simultaneously.)
"Yeah, you're right," Lombardo told a reporter. "But unfortunately that's incumbent upon federal funding more often than not, so yes, when you get funds available and you have to spend them and if you don't, you're going to lose them, so you've got to take advantage when you can."
Lombardo also said he supports installing red-light cameras in Las Vegas to issue tickets to drivers who run the red and put others in danger. Sheriff Kevin McMahill recently said he'd support changing state law, which currently bans the cameras. Both McMahill and Lombardo (the former sheriff before he was elected governor) say there are not enough officers to patrol for traffic violators.
High gas bills
Lombardo also addressed the sky-high gas bills that hit mailboxes this winter. The governor appoints members of the Public Utilities Commission, which review rate increase utility requests to ensure they are merited. But the price of energy isn't something in the control of either the PUC or the governor.
"And so the purchase price both for power and gas was exponentially high," Lombardo said. "You described it yourself how [it was] the largest that anybody could remember and so we feel that pain in the out years of reimbursing the cost. And so by the end of this year, fiscal year 2024, you're going to see a significant decrease associated with that. Yeah, and I feel people's pain."
Lombardo took credit for issuing an executive order early in his tenure that embraced a so-called all of the above strategy for energy generation. Under former Gov. Steve Sisolak, a climate strategy plan called for moving away from the use of natural gas, both for power generation and in homes, where gas is used for heating, clothes drying, cooking and in hot water heaters.
"And I wasn't prepared to make that move or I was prepared to repeal that decision because, as you've seen in California during the hot summer months or during the doldrums of the winter months ... they were having rolling blackouts, the lack of infrastructure to support their climate decisions or the climate policy they brought forward."
Nevada residents would have seen even higher prices without the use of natural gas, Lombardo said.
But the governor isn't against the development of clean energy: He said the state needs to develop better battery technology to store energy before the state can fully rely on green sources. "You know, when wind and solar are a solution, green energy is a solution, but until that infrastructure is expanded and built out, we have to rely on other sources."
"The environment is as important as anything else," the governor added. "But I think we have to measure it for the functionality of the economy and personal comfort and the ability to take care of yourselves in that formula. And we're not there yet."
