Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) today announced $39,851,697 in federal grant funding she has pushed for will be awarded to the Reimagine Boulder Highway Project. Cortez Masto advocated for this funding with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, detailing the importance of improving pedestrian safety and how it would improve the daily lives of many underserved Nevadans in the area.
“I pushed for this federal funding because it will make an enormous difference to vulnerable communities in Henderson and across the region. The Boulder Highway is among the most dangerous stretches of highway across Nevada, and it poses significant environmental risks to vulnerable families who live nearby. Our communities deserve to have safe, reliable transportation, and these federal dollars will reduce traffic congestion in Henderson, better protect pedestrians and bicyclists, and improve local transit that Nevadans depend on to get to work and school. We need to do everything we can to connect our communities while keeping people safe, and I will continue to advocate for these federal to improve our roads and highways.”
Boulder Highway currently spans six lanes but is poorly illuminated and unwelcoming to non-vehicular traffic. This has contributed to it becoming the most dangerous stretch of roadway in Southern Nevada, with nearly 10% of all statewide pedestrian deaths occurring within this corridor.
This federal funding for the Boulder Highway Project in Henderson City will reduce existing traffic lanes from six to four, enhance pedestrian zones and sidewalks, create dedicated lanes for bus transit, and create buffered bike lanes. It will also bicyclists and pedestrians from potentially dangerous and/or contaminated flood waters.
As part of Senator Cortez Masto’s Innovation State Initiative, she has consistently called for investments in transportation infrastructure that will provide good paying jobs, stimulate Nevada’s economy, and improve quality of life for Nevadans, including in a letter to Congressional leadership in September. Senator Cortez Masto has also called for increased support to vital government programs during the pandemic and has been instrumental in securing transportation grants throughout the state of Nevada, including $50 million for improvements to I-15 in Las Vegas, $23 million to enhance Pyramid Highway, $10 million to upgrade Washoe County’s public bus fleet, $3.8 million to reduce public transit emissions in Southern Nevada, and over $380 million in funding under COVID-19 relief to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on public transportation.
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