Nevada city angling for state's first toll road

Nevada would get its first toll road under a public-private partnership floated by the city of Sparks.

State lawmakers would need to approve the move, as Nevada law currently bans fees on roads that are part of P3s.

The city manager of Sparks, located just east of Reno, has proposed a 13-mile toll road that would be built under a P3 model and is preparing a draft bill request to advance the proposal, according to local reports. The request would allow the Washoe County Regional Transportation Commission and Sparks to enter into a design-build-operate-finance-and-maintain P3 and issue bonds for the highway, which carries an estimated $500 million price tag, according to local reports.

The mayor did not return requests for comment.

"It's pretty bold," said Baruch Feigenbaum, senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. "We don't see proposals like that that much and for a mayor to come up with this proposal as a traffic solution is a bold action on his part. I wish more city, state and federal officials had this type of outside-the-box thinking."

Reason Foundation

Nevada has limited P3-enabling legislation that, for example, allows larger cities to enter into P3s for transportation projects. And the Brightline West project, a high-speed train between Nevada and California, marks the state's highest profile public-private partnership.

But a ban remains on privately financed toll roads and bridges, and lawmakers have killed previous bills that would allow broad authority for toll roads in the state. The Legislature would need to grant Sparks an exemption from its ban on privately financed toll roads.

There is precedent for that move. In 2011, the Legislature passed  Senate Bill 506 that granted Boulder City permission to build a tolled bypass road through a P3 that connects I-515 to the Hoover Dam. In the end, however, the city tapped federal funds to build the bypass, avoiding the need for private financing.

Snagging sufficient state and federal funds may be more difficult for the Sparks' proposal, which is in a largely rural, although growing, area, Feigenbaum noted.

"The amount of state funding they could get to build this road would be a real challenge," Feigenbaum said. The city could apply for a federal grant, but it would likely face stiff competition from non-tolled projects, he said.

"So mayor wants another source and this is a pretty logical way to go," he said.

The draft bill proposal has yet to be sent to the Legislature, according to local reports, so it remains to be seen if lawmakers and the Nevada Department of Transportation will support it. It likely depends on support from the local state delegation, Feigenbaum said.

"History would suggest [state lawmakers] would be amenable," he said. "But if there's opposition in the local delegation, it would be a problem."