Facing 5 years of bad road

It should be no surprise that the proposals for an improved road network would mean increased taxes in one form or another.

According to the Douglas County Transportation Plan being considered by commissioners, the transportation accounts start running up deficits in 2010 without additional revenue. Using present revenue sources, the county will have a $7.7 million deficit by 2012.

The plan confirms what we've known all along, that there isn't a lot of money to improve the Valley's road network and there are a lot more people using it.

We've been using the same roads to get around the Valley for 20 years. The last big expansion of road capacity in Carson Valley was the expansion of Highway 395 to four lanes from Gardnerville to Indian Hills in 1984. Surfacing East Valley Road with asphalt grindings was one of the biggest improvements in county transportation in several years.

The Nevada Department of Transportation estimates that the number of people using Highway 395 north of Johnson Lane will nearly double by 2030. Should the transportation plan be implemented, traffic would actually decrease through Minden and Gardnerville.

That assumes Muller Parkway, which is now a dotted line both on a map and in real life, will be completed.

Without new revenue sources it is true that Carson Valley's roads will continue to worsen. But bad as they are, we doubt Douglas County taxpayers will suddenly find themselves made more generous by the inconvenience.