Funding Transportation Projects During a Downturn in the Las Vegas Economy: Federal Funds and Not Much Else!

In late 2007 the Great Recession began to take over all across the United States. The City of Las Vegas (CLV), like many other communities across the country, began to experience significant challenges to its economy. As the economy slowed, it soon became very difficult to secure local funding for transportation improvement projects.The 2008-2012 fiscal years were extremely challenging but with a lot of hard work, and a little bit of luck, the CLV and its partner agencies were able to secure almost $500 million dollars from a diverse group of federal funding sources and/or federal agencies. The CLV was able to keep 1000’s of engineers and construction workers employed designing and constructing a wide variety of transportation improvement projects. The CLV was also able to take advantage of very favorable bids from local contractors, which enabled every federal dollar secured to go even further. Entering into 2012, the Las Vegas economy has stabilized and continues to improve each month. With all the negativity that has been covered by the media surrounding the federal government, such as the record deficits, debt ceilings, bailouts, and a variety of logjams in congress, this paper provides a very positive story on how the federal government helped the CLV get through a very difficult time in its economy.