RENO, N.V. -- Saying Reno’s downtown railroad trench should serve as a model for the nation, a key congressman pledged in a Tuesday news conference to push for a $15 million grant to cover the trench for parks, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, also said he’ll be working for money to add truck lanes on the uphill sections of Interstate 80 over Donner Pass.

“Interstate 80 keeps this town alive,” he said of tourists who drive over the mountain from northern California.

Young has chaired the committee for a year but has served 28 years in Congress. And he has big plans.

“I’m the first West Coast chairman in 50 years,” he said, noting that most of the former chairmen were from the East Coast and got the lion’s share of federal transportation money.

Young says it’s time to take care of the West Coast. With its ports bringing in goods from the Pacific Rim countries, he said it now does more import business than the East Coast.

He described the nation’s railroad and semi-trucks as a “floating warehouse” that gets goods to consumers and factories.

Young said trains must move faster to compete with trucks and take a load off the highways.

“Within five years we will increase truck traffic by over 50 percent,” he said of West Coast traffic.

In the news conference with Mayor Jeff Griffin at the Eldorado’s Gold Room for VIPs, Young said Reno’s trench project is part of the national solution to moving goods.

From his hotel room, Young said he could see the trains crawling at 15 mph through downtown. He said that won’t be good enough when the Port of Oakland’s expansion is completed.

With the trench, he said trains won’t need to slow down for 11 rail crossings. He described the 2.1-mile-long trench, estimated to cost $213 million when built, as “a small project.”

Young said it could be made into a better project by helping to beautify downtown Reno if the trench were covered from Keystone to Evans avenues, allowing parks to be built on top.

“If you don’t have a cover, you have an open hole,” he said. “This is not a difficult project. You put steel girders in, cover it, add gardens, park benches, flowers or whatever you want to have. I just think it would be a tremendous addition to the city of Reno.”

“Nice as Reno is, you do have a shortage of open space where the hotel-casinos are,” Young said.

Griffin also spoke of using the space for a special events plaza, under study in the downtown area

Young said $15 million to help with the decking project could be put in an appropriation bill for 2003 or in an alternative transportation bill in 2004.

Working with California and Nevada officials, Young said money could be available for the highway project in the same time frame.

If the trench is approved by the council next July, a contractor for the trench would start preliminary work next August. Griffin said bid documents, to be released later this week, will contain specifications for more steel girders to bear the weight of a cover.

RENO, N.V. -- Saying Reno’s downtown railroad trench should serve as a model for the nation, a key congressman pledged in a Tuesday news conference to push for a $15 million grant to cover the trench for parks, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, also said he’ll be working for money to add truck lanes on the uphill sections of Interstate 80 over Donner Pass.

“Interstate 80 keeps this town alive,” he said of tourists who drive over the mountain from northern California.

Young has chaired the committee for a year but has served 28 years in Congress. And he has big plans.

“I’m the first West Coast chairman in 50 years,” he said, noting that most of the former chairmen were from the East Coast and got the lion’s share of federal transportation money.

Young says it’s time to take care of the West Coast. With its ports bringing in goods from the Pacific Rim countries, he said it now does more import business than the East Coast.

He described the nation’s railroad and semi-trucks as a “floating warehouse” that gets goods to consumers and factories.

Young said trains must move faster to compete with trucks and take a load off the highways.

“Within five years we will increase truck traffic by over 50 percent,” he said of West Coast traffic.

In the news conference with Mayor Jeff Griffin at the Eldorado’s Gold Room for VIPs, Young said Reno’s trench project is part of the national solution to moving goods.

From his hotel room, Young said he could see the trains crawling at 15 mph through downtown. He said that won’t be good enough when the Port of Oakland’s expansion is completed.

With the trench, he said trains won’t need to slow down for 11 rail crossings. He described the 2.1-mile-long trench, estimated to cost $213 million when built, as “a small project.”

Young said it could be made into a better project by helping to beautify downtown Reno if the trench were covered from Keystone to Evans avenues, allowing parks to be built on top.

“If you don’t have a cover, you have an open hole,” he said. “This is not a difficult project. You put steel girders in, cover it, add gardens, park benches, flowers or whatever you want to have. I just think it would be a tremendous addition to the city of Reno.”

“Nice as Reno is, you do have a shortage of open space where the hotel-casinos are,” Young said.

Griffin also spoke of using the space for a special events plaza, under study in the downtown area

Young said $15 million to help with the decking project could be put in an appropriation bill for 2003 or in an alternative transportation bill in 2004.

Working with California and Nevada officials, Young said money could be available for the highway project in the same time frame.

If the trench is approved by the council next July, a contractor for the trench would start preliminary work next August. Griffin said bid documents, to be released later this week, will contain specifications for more steel girders to bear the weight of a cover.