“Tell me the numbers, I’ll take care of the politics.”

Shashi Nambisan, director of the Transportation Research Center (TRC) at UNLV, recalled a pivotal discussion in the early 1990s with then-County Commissioner Bruce L. Woodbury about the transportation needs of a region on the precipice of substantial growth. The discussion also included leaders from Clark County Public Works and the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada.

“So we did that. We provided the data that helped inform Question 10 on that year’s election ballot, a local option gas tax,” said Nambisan. “He [Commissioner Woodbury] highlighted in turn that if we don’t fund our transportation, we will not be able to grow — we will choke on our own success. And, if we wait for federal money, it’s going to take 15 to 20 years before we even start building the 215 Beltway.”

The discussion — and the resulting policy supported by an overwhelming majority of Clark County voters — encapsulates Nambisan’s career in advising states, counties, and local governments in Nevada and across the country, on critical issues in transportation development, management, and operations. 

And, today, like in the 1990s, our transportation infrastructure — not only in Nevada, but nationally — needs a bit of a shock to the system. 

“What critical actions will Las Vegas need to take over the next decades to ensure a sustainable transportation system? These are the kinds of questions we are trying to answer at the TRC,” said Nambisan, who is also a professor of civil and environmental engineering and construction at UNLV.

From rural communities to bustling cities, the transportation landscape of the present and future  is being shaped by an array of societal, technological, and environmental forces. Electric vehicles and their accompanying direct current fast charging (DCFC) stations that dot busy shopping plazas and heavy-traffic corridors, offering drivers rapid charging solutions while also avoiding taxes at the gas pump, is one example. An accelerating and increasing reliance on online shopping — which saves the consumer a vehicle trip to multiple stores, but in turn, adds to the negative impact of larger delivery trucks driving along residential streets — is another.

Add to that the technological advancements in automated and autonomous vehicle capabilities, a snowballing number of natural disasters that destroy roadways for weeks or months at a time, and the increasing number of abandoned roads and railways in rural communities, and you’ve got a system that is desperately in need of a new blueprint for success — and a coalition of researchers, policymakers, private businesses and public agencies committed to making it happen.

“Transportation is an integral part, every day, of society,” Nambisan said. “How do we develop, design, and operate transportation systems that make a difference in a meaningful way?”

The wide-ranging Q&A that follows is just a snippet of the challenges, opportunities, and considerations that Nambisan, along with elected and appointed officials, community leaders, and collaborators across UNLV and more than an a dozen partner universities, are weighing as they build a sustainable path forward for the transportation system of tomorrow.

What is the role of transportation in society, and, specifically, in the Silver State?

A robust transportation system is vital to provide access and mobility. Everybody needs access to one or more of these on a daily basis: education, employment, health care, and social/recreational activities — no matter where we are on planet Earth. And in Nevada and Las Vegas, the social/recreational category has a special significance because of our tourism. The goal is to enhance the quality of life of local residents — that’s what most communities are worried about. But, because Las Vegas is dependent on tourism, visitors are a very big part and we want to ensure they have a positive transportation experience so that they come back and keep coming back. And by doing so, we are going to foster economic prosperity of our communities and businesses, which is vital.

What are the factors that impact transportation? 

One side is demand, the other side is supply. Demand is driven by population — both residents and, particularly in Las Vegas, non-resident tourists — the more people you have, the greater the need for transportation. A typical household in the Las Vegas Valley generates eight to 10 trips every day. So, as our population grows, you’re going to have greater needs for transportation infrastructure. And economic activity: as you have more businesses — retail, commercial, hotel — you’re going to have greater need to provide for transport. 

How has consumer behavior with online shopping adversely affected our transportation system?

One fine day many years ago my older daughter said, “Dad, we need these things, and I need a credit card to pay for it, but you don’t have to take us to get it. It’s cheaper online, and it’s free delivery.” It seemed to me like we were winning on all accounts, so I agreed that they should order the five items or so. But what do I see over the next three to four days? I see a UPS truck, a FedEx truck, coming up on my neighborhood street to drop off these five items individually over the course of a week, which otherwise, my wife or I would have had to make two or three stops during a single trip to pick them up in our personal vehicles.

The ease and appeal of online shopping has only exploded since then. You’re saving personal time and money, but what does it mean to society? It means that vehicles that are heavier than a passenger car are making three, four, even five stops a day on one residential street, causing significantly greater damage to our road infrastructure.

A typical, small car weighs about 3,500 pounds. The heavier delivery vehicles cause substantially greater wear and tear of the pavement. As a result, our street quality is deteriorating at a much faster rate. We design our residential streets to last between 10 and 20 years. If we think of a street that was designed to last 20 years, this increase in delivery traffic will chew up that street in 6 to 10 years. But who’s going to pay for it? To put it into perspective, it costs, on average, about $4 million to build one lane of a freeway for one mile long.

And it’s not just wear and tear. These bigger delivery trucks also take up more space on the road. A left-turn lane might be able to store 15 cars. But if you have bigger trucks and delivery vans in the same turn lane, you may now only be able to accommodate fewer cars, so you have more traffic backups and operational inefficiencies. The bigger vehicles also have worse fuel economy and worse emissions, which negatively impact our environment. And, because bigger vehicles are heavier, the acceleration and deceleration characteristics are different, which can affect safety outcomes.

What are some of the key financial and policy challenges that arise from the shift to electric vehicles and changing driving habits, and how might they impact future transportation funding?

One challenge is the revenues derived from fuel taxes. Owners of gasoline vehicles pay a bunch of taxes, both local and federal, to buy gasoline. Owners of electric vehicles, however, don’t, and they use the same roads. And, sometimes, electric cars are heavier. So how do we get them to pay their fair share? 

And, over the past four decades, we’ve greatly improved our fuel economy. In 1980, a typical car got about 15 miles to the gallon. In 2023, we were getting about 26 miles a gallon. On average, across the U.S., most of us drive 12,000 miles a year. Because of better fuel economy, we only need about 460 gallons of fuel a year — which is good on our pocketbooks. But, what does it do in terms of the revenues from fuel taxes for public agencies? This means that there is a lesser amount of revenues per vehicle.

Some of that has been offset by the overall increase in the number of vehicles on the road. But, another new phenomenon is that more and more young people are waiting longer to get their driver’s licenses and in turn, relying on rideshares and delaying car ownership. These are some of the policy and financial challenges we really need to address as a community and a nation.

What are the key challenges in addressing infrastructure disruptions caused by natural disasters and crashes, and what should be prioritized to ensure faster recovery and long-term resilience?

Just look at what’s happened recently on the East Coast with Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. Climate change is causing an increasingly devastating amount of disruptions — hurricanes, floods, tornadoes. These disasters adversely affect the supply. And human-caused crashes — from texting while driving to driving while impaired — have also increased.

During a crash, traffic could be disrupted for a few hours, while flooding could cause disruptions for weeks or even months. Think about the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore that occurred earlier this year. You’re not talking about days or weeks — you’re talking years to repair that bridge. 

A prime example for us is the I-15. We have one major roadway that connects us with Southern California and the pipelines that deliver gasoline; the railroad track that transports freight is housed in the same corridor. What if there’s an earthquake that makes these inoperable? We’d be in a lot of trouble.

Effecting such changes requires strategic vision, political leadership, money, a skilled workforce, and legal issues to be resolved. It’s not easy.

What are the long-term consequences of the increasing trend of abandoning roadways and rail lines in rural areas, and how might this impact transportation, agriculture, and community livelihoods?

On the supply side, transportation systems can quickly deteriorate when we have changes in use patterns, and subtractions to roadways and rail are becoming more common across the country. All over the Las Vegas Valley, however, we’ve actually been good about adding roadways and lane miles due to increased demand. For example, the 215 in Henderson is going to be significantly transformed between the US 95 and I-11 to the airport connector in the next few years. 

But, in many parts of the country, especially in rural locales, there are subtractions. On the railroads, they’re abandoning track for freight because of changes in supply and demand. One major example is the coal industry. Many of the rail lines across the U.S. were built to access mines, whether coal mines or other mines, so now that we have a reduction in coal mining, we don’t need all those tracks. They cost a lot to build and maintain. Similarly in rural America, paved roads are being abandoned. Why? Because if you are going to call it a paved road, it has to be maintained to a certain condition, and it costs money. Many rural communities don’t have the money to maintain it so they abandon roads and they quickly deteriorate. What does that mean? It adversely affects the quality of transportation, life, and access to farms and agriculture.

What is one issue that could arise with more tech-connected vehicles? 

We have more and more cyber vulnerabilities and points of weaknesses. You hear about personal credit and bank accounts being compromised, because of a cyber hack. Imagine if we moved to a society in the following decades where all cars talked to each other and we no longer have traffic signals. If a car system is hacked and a car communicates the wrong information — speed and distance — to another car, they could end up at the same place at the same time in an intersection. We’re talking about milliseconds that you need to identify these threats and come up with a solution. So how do we build resiliency?

How does the Transportation Research Center leverage interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships to secure funding for projects that improve regional transportation?

Most of the work we do at the TRC, which involves interdisciplinary collaborations across campus, relies on data. This data sometimes comes from our partners, like government agencies, or nontraditional partners like cell phone companies. A lot of the work I do includes helping agencies such as Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) of Southern Nevada and the City of Las Vegas write grant applications for projects. In 2020, we helped the RTC write a proposal and as a result they won $3.9 million to set up the initial infrastructure for hydrogen fuel stations for their buses. In 2021, we also helped the RTC write a grant application for a $15 million project to improve — through a smart sensor system — roadway safety and operations between the Spaghetti Bowl and the Summerlin Parkway on U.S. 95. UNLV also has a small part in that grant.

These types of activities help improve the quality of life and living and transportation in the region; our role is to help society at large. The challenges are steep. The solutions we develop have to be societally embraceable, technically feasible, economically viable, environmentally friendly and politically acceptable. We need to have a mix of all of these. If you’re missing one of these, it’s not going to happen.