Amodei applauds $23M federal grant for Nevada transportation project

U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) recently commended action by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to provide $23 million in funding for a transportation improvement project in his home state.

“I applaud President Trump and [DOT] Secretary Chao for continuing to make Nevada a priority and securing funding for this much-needed project,” Rep. Amodei said last week. 

The DOT announced on Sept. 10 that Nevada’s Washoe Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) will receive the federal funds from a Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant. 

The RTC will use the funds to improve and widen approximately 2.4 miles of Pyramid Highway, widening roughly 1.6 miles from Queen Way to Los Altos Parkway from four-lanes to six-lanes and reconstructing about 0.75 miles of existing four-lane roadway from Los Altos Parkway to Golden View Drive, according to DOT, which said the grant also will fund installation of smart traffic signals, widening the median, shoulders, bike lanes, and sidewalks, and installation of enhanced drainage and stormwater infrastructure.

“Today’s funding announcement builds upon numerous other successes Washoe RTC has achieved… and will provide the commission with the additional resources it needs to make further improvements to our transportation systems,” said Rep. Amodei on Sept. 10. “This investment will ultimately help enable Nevadans to move as safely and efficiently as possible.”

The congressman on May 19 sent a letter to DOT Secretary Elaine Chao expressing support for Washoe RTC’s application for a fiscal year 2020 BUILD grant for the Pyramid Highway Project. Nevada’s $23 million grant is part of DOT’s total $1 billion in awarded BUILD grants, and builds upon other federal grants received by Nevada, including last month’s more than $4 million grant DOT awarded to the Washoe RTC to upgrade its public bus fleet, according to Rep. Amodei’s office.