Transportation & Infrastructure - University of Nevada, Reno

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TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE Older Adult Ridership Although public transportation is essential to meeting the growing mobility needs of Nevada’s seniors, obtaining accurate data on senior ridership is problematic. Total ridership data do not exist specific to the older adult population. Where data have been collected, the data on riders 65 and older have been confounded with the inclusion of individuals with disabilities of all ages and the general public. Other transportation services that receive NDOT funds (i.e., sub-recipients), such as senior centers and regional services, do not collect age-specific data, although their passengers are primarily from local senior centers. For example, Churchill County and other sub-recipients in Douglas, Esmeralda, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral and Pershing counties might not report ridership by age alone, even though they regularly pick up passengers from the county senior centers. Also, Douglas County operates the BlueGo transit with Lake Tahoe tourists, and the senior centers in Minden and Gardnerville operate the DART public transit system. Rural transit in White Pine operates through the White Pine County Senior Services (M. Gardner, Personal Communication, August 30, 2012). From the available data, it appears that total ridership, including seniors, increased by almost 14% between 2009 and 2011 (see Table T2). By region, ridership increased in the Northern Urban/Metropolitan (0.2% to 3.9%) and Rural/Frontier (69.2% to 74.2%) regions and decreased in the Southern Urban/Metropolitan region (30.5% to 21.9%; see Figure T2). Douglas County had the highest level of ridership in both years. Interestingly, Storey County reported no use (or failed to report use) of the public transportation system. From 2009 to 2011, ridership increased significantly in Washoe, Douglas and Lander, counties and Carson City 1 . Fig. T2: Transit Ridership: Year by Region 0.2% 30.5% 69.2% 3.9% 21.9% 2009 2011 74.2% Northern Urban/Metro Southern Urban/Metro Rural/Frontier (M. Gardner, Personal Communication, August 30, 2012; Performance Analysis Division: State of Nevada 2011 Facts and Figures, 2011) Nevada’s Transportation Infrastructure Building our state’s transportation infrastructure is essential to meet the growing mobility needs of Nevada’s growing senior population. According to Senator Harry Reid, “Nevada’s transportation infrastructure is stretched to the limit...44% of the state’s roads are congested, and many state roads are in need of repair” (Reid-Issues, n.d., para. 1 and 7). In 2008, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE, 2009-2012) identified three top infrastructure concerns for Nevada: bridges, roads, and drinking water/hazardous waste (see Table T3). In this next section, we review current bridge and road infrastructure issues that highlight the barriers to mobility faced by Nevada seniors. Bridges are categorized as deficient if they have structural issues (poor load-carrying conditions), functional issues (below current design standards) or seismic issues [below current earthquake-resistant standards (Performance Analysis Division: State of Nevada, 2011 Facts and Figures, 2011)]. Nevada has 1,922 public bridges. Of these, NDOT maintains 1,092; various governmental agencies maintain 792; and private citizens maintain 38. In 2011, NDOT designated almost 15% (or 285) of the bridges as deficient due to structural (18), functional (139), and seismic (128) problems (Nevada State Highway Preservation Report, 2011, page 39). 34 1 Ridership data does not include the metropolitan transit services operating in Las Vegas, Reno and Carson City.
NDOT also is responsible for 20% of Nevada’s roads with over half of all vehicle miles traveled on NDOT-maintained roads. In 2007 and 2009, ASCE graded the U.S. road infrastructure with a “D” and a “D-” for poor-to-mediocre road conditions that cost Americans time and fuel and increase stress due to congestion. The conditions also cost motorists money in terms of road-induced need for auto repairs (see Table T3). In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allocated approximately $201 million to the Nevada Department of Transportation to improve the state’s transportation infrastructure and put Nevada residents back to work (NDOT: Projects and Programs, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Overview, 2012). Approximately 30% of the money was allocated for transportation projects in the urban areas of the state (e.g., Clark and Washoe counties); 3.5% was allocated to rural areas; and the remaining money was earmarked for other statewide projects. The 2011 Urban Mobility Report suggested that demand for new road construction and infrastructure repair in Las Vegas outstripped supplies by 30% (Schrank, Lomax, & Eisele, p. 50). In addition, in a review of 101 U.S. cities, Las Vegas ranked 36th in terms of traffic congestion. This resulted in 28 hours of delay per commuter annually, seven gallons of excess fuel per auto per year, and an estimated $532 total annual cost per auto (Schrank, et al., 2011). These congestion figures translate into a total annual congestion cost of $530 million in Nevada when the excess fuel costs are taken into account and delays are valued at $16 per hour for individuals and $88 per hour for large commercial trucks. In 2011, NDOT embarked on the second phase of the two-part, multi-agency study called Connecting Nevada. A goal of this study was to redefine Nevada’s transportation-planning process through collaboration with federal, state, regional and local agencies and stakeholders. Another goal was to improve Nevada’s transportation network for seniors and future generations. Tasks of the study included increasing public and stakeholder involvement in planning for Nevada’s future transportation needs through formal needs analysis and group discussion, and development of a statewide travel-demand model, population and employment forecasts, and web map. The study was expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2013 followed by data analysis and planning. At the time of the publication of Elders Count Nevada (2013), the project had connected with more than 150 stakeholders across the state. For more information, please see www.connectingnevada.org. TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE 35
Page 1 and 2: In future years, Nevada will be bil
Page 3: Transportation Safety As people age
Page 7: Table T3 ASCE: Key Infrastructure F

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