DesertXpress likely further delayed by a federal agency

By Richard N. Velotta

Friday, Sept. 24, 2010 | 3 a.m.

Despite the various reader comments that have pleaded, “Just build it, already!” in reference to the proposed DesertXpress high-speed passenger train, it appears that the public will have to wait a little bit longer for ground to be broken on the Las Vegas-to-Victorville, Calif., system.

Earlier this month, the Federal Railroad Administration released a supplemental draft environmental impact statement on the 200-mile corridor between Las Vegas and Victorville.

What that means is that enough people with enough concern about enough of the elements of the project commented enough that five federal agencies will revisit the matter.

Environmental impact statements present agonizing detail on “land use and community effects; conversion of grazing land; impacts on sensitive biological resources and wetlands; visual impacts in scenic areas of the Mojave Desert; impacts on historic properties and archaeological sites; impacts on parks and recreation resources; impacts to hydrological resources; air quality effects; noise; and effects on utility and public service providers.

“Mitigation measures and strategies are described to avoid or minimize potential impacts,” says the supplemental document, produced with assistance from the Bureau of Land Management, the Surface Transportation Board, the Federal Highway Administration and the National Park Service.

The first draft was published in March 2009. The Railroad Administration solicited comments and held two public hearings. The administration took written comments and remarks from the hearings to prepare the record of decision DesertXpress needed to start building.

Company representatives expected to have a record of decision in hand by this summer so that they could complete the final engineering and begin building by the end of the year or in early 2011.

But the posting of the supplemental document means there won’t be a record of decision until the end of the year. Industry experts say an end-of-the-year posting is optimistic. How long that pushes back construction is an unknown that even DesertXpress executives didn’t want to talk about.

Although the differences in the original environmental impact statement and the supplemental are minimal to most, the Federal Railroad Administration thinks there was enough change to warrant a new comment period. The public has until Oct. 18 to forward comments on the revised document.

Two more public hearings are scheduled as well. In Las Vegas, a meeting is scheduled from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Southwest Event Center B at the Hampton Inn Tropicana at 4975 Dean Martin Drive. A second public hearing is scheduled in Barstow, Calif., the next day.

The two biggest deviations from the original document involve changes on the southern end of the route. They include a new site plan for a passenger station in Victorville and a modified alignment through Barstow, where residents are angling for a station and stop instead of a bypass of the city.

There’s also a proposal to change the rail alignment through the Clark Mountains near the Mojave National Preserve, an area overseen by the National Park Service. The preferred route would veer into the preserve; the modified route would cost more to build because it would involve tunneling, but it would avoid Park Service land.

In Southern Nevada, the new document considers new sites for maintenance and operation facilities in unincorporated Clark County at Sloan Road, Wigwam Avenue and Robindale Avenue along the existing right-of-way near Interstate 15.

Finally, the new document suggests moving the rail alignment in metropolitan Las Vegas from the I-15 corridor to a route closer to Industrial Road and Dean Martin Drive.

Four Las Vegas train station sites remain in the plan, but the Industrial-Dean Martin deviation makes it clear that developers have their eyes on a site known as Central Station B, just south of Flamingo Road and west of I-15.

“The federal agencies have not yet determined a federal agency-preferred alternative (on the Las Vegas station site),” Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Rob Kulat said in an e-mail. “The applicant has indicated Las Vegas Central Station B Station Site as their preference.

A few days after the supplemental report came out, I ran into transportation expert Tom Skancke, who was chatting up the Nevada Contractors Association about how Las Vegas has the potential to be a transportation crossroads for the West once the Interstate 11 proposal gets legs and high-speed rail is on track.

“Based on what I know, this is going to be very first true high-speed rail line in the country. The first,” Skancke said. “And it’s going to be amazing.

“People criticize this with, ‘Victorville? Who goes to Victorville?’ The reality is once this is up, it’s going to become the most valuable asset in the nation. Here’s why: People are going to see a train going from Point A to Point B at 150 to 180 mph and everybody’s going to want one. It will prove to the rest of the country that high-speed rail works. We need this. Our nation needs to see the vision of high-speed rail. And this will be a demonstration that high-speed rail works.”

For those who are still irritated about how advocates of maglev got the political shaft on a Las Vegas-to-Southern California route, it’s looking more and more like a maglev will be built — but in Colorado, not here.

At the recent USA Rail conference in Denver, it was announced that representatives of the Colorado Transportation Department expect to have a record of decision by spring that an advanced guideway system would be proposed for the Interstate 70 corridor that would link Denver with many of the state’s ski resorts. An “advanced guideway system” is either a maglev or a monorail and with the amount of ice and snow that piles up in that corridor, experts say it won’t be a monorail.

So we may yet see a maglev in our lifetime. But it probably will be in the Rocky Mountains.

Barrett-Jackson car auctions

Thousands of car enthusiasts are in town through Sept. 25 for the third annual Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas Collector Car Event at Mandalay Bay.

Barrett-Jackson kicked off the event last weekend with its third annual Cruise-In at Gaudin Ford, followed by a road rally beginning at Fairway Chevrolet, with cars traveling up and down the Strip on Sept. 22.

Hundreds of classics, hot rods and muscle cars were a part of three days of auctions. Through a relationship with the Speed Channel, the Barrett-Jackson event is getting 22 hours of national television coverage, a boost to Las Vegas as well as the event.

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Barrett-Jackson produces “The World’s Greatest Collector Car Auctions” in Scottsdale; Palm Beach, Fla.; Orange County, Calif.; and Las Vegas.

Orbitz: LV hotels a good deal

Las Vegas hotels are a good deal for travelers, Orbitz.com says.

Although the average daily hotel room rate is up compared with a year ago, it’s still 12 percent less than it was in 2008, Orbitz said.

Las Vegas, Seattle and Denver offer the best deals for fall based on percentage changes from 2008 to 2010.

Las Vegas rates, listed at $92 a night on average, are 12 percent less than they were in fall 2008. Seattle’s rate is 7 percent less than in 2008 and Denver’s is down 6 percent over the same span.

But in some resorts, rates have gone the opposite direction — good for the resort, but bad for the consumer.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla., at $93 a night virtually the same as Las Vegas, is up 12 percent since 2008. Orlando, Fla.’s rate ($90) is up 17 percent from 2008. Honolulu had the biggest jump at 27 percent, hitting an average rate of $150 a night.

Flight attendants back big jets

Southwest Airlines’ bid to fly larger Boeing 737-800 jets took a step closer to approval recently when the executive board of the Transport Workers Union Local 556, representing more than 9,700 Southwest flight attendants, unanimously approved a tentative agreement.

Southwest has floated the idea of converting some of its aircraft orders from 700-series planes, which hold 137 passengers, to larger 800-series planes, which Southwest would modify to carry 175 people.

One obstacle to the plan is that pilot and flight attendant unions must approve renegotiating contracts, particularly since a fourth flight attendant would be required by regulation to fly. The pilots still haven’t completed talks with the airline.

It’s unclear what effect, if any, the move would have on operations in Las Vegas, since Southwest is interested in getting the larger jets to increase the number of passengers it can fly to capacity-restricted airports — and McCarran International isn’t one of those.

More Allegiant flights

Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air is bulking up for the holidays, adding several flights that will be offered Dec. 21 to Jan. 4.

The additional flights are available for purchase and will involve routes from Allegiant’s resort hubs and secondary hub airports.

From Las Vegas, Allegiant will add flights to and from Eugene, Ore.; Fargo, N.D.; Kalispell, Mont.; Laredo, Texas; Medford, Ore.; Missoula, Mont.; Tri-Cities, Wash.; Peoria, Ill.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Springfield, Mo.

The airline also announced a holiday-enhanced schedule for its Bellingham, Wash., International Airport hub that includes additional flights to and from McCarran.