I-15 Healing Hearts

Dear Mr. Erick Trump,

I am contacting you regarding a life-or-death, longtime problem affecting families, tourists, truck drivers, and communities along the I-15 corridor.

The Interstate I-15 corridor from Barstow to the Nevada state line passes through one of the most dangerous desert regions in the United States and California, the Mojave Desert. Temperatures in this region have been recorded as high as 134°F, and this mostly two-lane section remains a main artery to Las Vegas.

Historical data studies tracking fatal crashes in San Bernardino County have identified the overall I-15 corridor as one of the deadliest highways in California and the United States of America.

Why This Issue Matters

I am writing to you as a political activist who once lived next to the deadly I-15 freeway in Newberry Springs. That is why I started my trek to help provide adequate emergency services in areas where services had previously been completely shut down, and to help fix the problems on the Interstate I-15 freeway.

I started by going to the San Bernardino County Sheriff/Coroner and requested, under the public information act, the death statistics of people who had died on the freeway from Barstow to the state line since 2010. Every time I read another child death, I felt a cold, frightening chill come over my body and nearly teared up.

This freeway has been one of the political venues where I have tried to get Las Vegas to listen about a new road. I regularly attended Las Vegas City Council meetings and the monthly Las Vegas Visitors Convention Authority meetings. I was eventually able to persuade the honorable Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who sat on the LVVCA, to get involved. She helped get a one-mile lane added from the state line to the inspection station near Primm.

Ongoing Advocacy and Development Concerns

With years of appearances and constant reminders to the LVVCA, their CEO Steve Hill, and assistant Ed Fingers, they eventually started the ball rolling with “The Coalition for Our Future” and Rebuild SoCal Partnership, which operates as a conglomerate of trade unions and labor management partnerships in Southern California.

Their work helped move the conversation forward. However, their ideology has some glitches and shortcomings, including concerns connected to the BNSF “BIG” project from Barstow. This $4 billion, 4,500-acre rail yard is planned for 60 trains per day, with 35% staying on rail and the rest repackaged and distributed. BNSF falls short of giving accurate data as to how many trucks will actually leave the terminal each day. It could easily double, though it is unlikely to triple.

This route is already plagued by a dangerously high rate of severe accidents. These accidents are largely driven by dangerous curves, twists, misplaced rumble strips, an overabundance of heavy commercial trucks, reckless driving, and infrastructure that struggles to handle the volume.

The BNSF Impact

Unless BNSF carries Las Vegas freight by rail past the state line and then disperses it by truck, the deathtrap highway is on the verge of becoming far worse. BNSF is actively building its new $4 billion, 4,500-acre Barstow International Gateway and moving its port receiving yard from Los Angeles and Commerce to Barstow.

This decrease in freight traffic does not fully address the freight traffic coming out of Barstow. It may severely impact everyday motorists, tourists, and families traveling to Las Vegas, Nevada, and beyond. The I-15 freeway is literally an artery of Las Vegas tourism and commerce.

If the road becomes too dangerous and plagued by multi-hour delays, it will inevitably impact travel, tourism, and local businesses.

• One option is to reroute traffic from the BNSF facility to I-40 and then cut back over to I-15 toward Las Vegas, though this may add about 1.5 hours of driving.
• Another option is to regulate truck traffic on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 2 PM to 8 PM so Las Vegas-bound traffic is not overwhelmed by BNSF truck traffic leaving the Barstow facility.
• Depending on approval time, initial planning, and completion, a long-term project may take 5 to 10 years or more.

The gridlock on the I-15 presently costs an estimated $3.9 million per hour. I urge you to use your platform, influence, and leverage with state officials, federal and state transportation agencies, and corporate partners to advocate for immediate safety enhancement on this deadly stretch of I-15.

A New Superhighway Proposal

I believe the BLM land could be engineered and developed for a car-only, eight-lane superhighway with four rest stops. This would create a straight shot away from the existing freeway while allowing the present highway to be utilized by the unknown amount of incoming BNSF heavy-duty trucks.

It is common sense to put in a new superhighway for cars and buses. This highway has become the most dangerous corridor in the region. Drivers and their families are facing life-threatening conditions daily, where fatal accidents are a regular occurrence.

Rest Stop Closures and Humanitarian Failure

This situation reached a breaking point on Monday, May 11, 2026, when every single rest stop on both sides of the highway, four rest stops in total, were completely closed. Thousands of travelers, including families, truck drivers, and tourists, were forced to navigate this 114-mile stretch of highway with no access to safe restrooms or emergency stopping points.

This is a humanitarian failure. It is also absolute chaos and directly costs lives.

Emergency Action and Environmental Barriers

Building an eight-lane straight-shot superhighway from Barstow to the Nevada state line would require overcoming major topographical, environmental, and bureaucratic barriers. Because this is a catastrophic life-saving emergency, I believe a presidential emergency declaration could help cross these hurdles.

While a straight line on the map may look simple, the actual geography between these two points includes rugged mountain ranges, protected national park lands, and environmental hardships.

The biggest environmental hurdle is the desert tortoise. I ask you: when was the last time a tortoise was seen on the I-15 freeway from Barstow to the state line? A tortoise rebirth program could help address this barrier. There are often simple solutions to difficult environmental problems.

Construction and Labor Ideas

One idea is to use NDOT as the lead agency and explore labor from nearby Nevada and California prison facilities during hot summer evenings, combined with engineering training and supervision. High-quality engineering firms could meet daily in prison classrooms to train inmates and help support the project.

Building a cars-and-buses-only eight-lane Interstate 15 between Barstow and the Nevada state line would eliminate massive bottlenecks, drastically reduce car crashes along the California high desert corridor, and cut current multi-hour weekend delays.

The products that make concrete are available presently but may deplete rapidly as time goes on. Using inmate labor from Nevada starting at one end and California starting at the other could allow construction under NDOT as the lead agency in approximately 1.5 to 2 years. A mix of union labor and inmate training labor could be explored. If prison labor is not used, the other labor source could be military support due to the loss of life involved.

Additional Questions and Concerns

There are many unanswered questions. Why does Caltrans continually shut down some or all of the rest stops? Why are rumble strips seemingly misplaced in many areas? Why have emergency services only recently reopened, such as the Harvard station and Yermo Fire Department?

The Yermo Fire Department is volunteering on weekends only. The SBCO Harvard Fire Station has reopened and is staffed. Some additional information pages enclosed attempt to address these issues and the political problems that make the visit to Las Vegas dangerous for innocent children and families.

Closing Message

Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your continued investment in Southern Nevada. I look forward to seeing the Trump family champion this critical regional issue and help stop the deaths of many men, women, and children on the freeway from Barstow to the state line over the next 5 to 10 years.

If I can be of any further assistance, please feel free to contact me at any time.

Prayers and salutations to the Trump family and staff.