RTC chief: Broad Las Vegas transit plan won’t gather dust

She won’t let it gather dust on some shelf within the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada’s offices.

Quigley, the commission’s general manager, was one of five speakers participating in what essentially was a victory celebration atop the World Market Center for the plan’s completion.

The plan uses a series of planning strategies — the enhancement of multiple types of transportation modes, the potential of light rail or more bus routes, wider sidewalks and bike paths — to make it easier for people to commute from their homes to their jobs. The study was funded with a federal grant, and a combination of local funds and potential grant money would be needed to make improvements.

Three years in the making, the plan is a federal grant-funded collaboration between 13 partner organizations spearheaded by the city of Henderson designed to guide Southern Nevada’s development over the next 20 years. It will use sustainable growth philosophies and transit programs to make jobs and schools more easily accessible to residents.

Advocates of the plan say following it won’t produce instant results, but it will make Southern Nevada a more appealing place to live for future generations.

“This regional plan is designed to push us outside our comfort zone and generate a larger conversation based on the guidance offered by the plan,” Quigley said. “The RTC will have the role of conveyor.”

What that means is that the agency will depend on the resources of the partner agencies for staff support and generate ideas from the public in the same way Southern Nevada Strong solicited comments for the plan with online surveys and strategically placed kiosks in public places rather than just taking testimony in public hearings.

Quigley said a nationwide search has begun for a planning director and two other staff positions will be filled after the beginning of April. Aside from them, the agency will count on support from the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City, Clark County, the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition, the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority, the Southern Nevada Health District, the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the Clark County School District, the Conservation District of Southern Nevada and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas as well as the RTC staff.

The plan, reviewed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which made a $3.5 million grant available to gather information, pay some support staff and draft it, lists 256 tasks, 90 of which will be turned over to the RTC.

A key component to the plan will be in transportation projects that will guide development. During the process, program participants learned from officials in other cities what transportation and regional planning can do for urban renewal. In cities that developed light-rail systems, economic development blossomed along transit stops. It turned out that light-rail systems, while expensive, spurred more economic development than invested.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta.