Question of the Day - 26 February 2010

We forwarded this one to mobility expert and friend of LVA Barry Lindemann of wheelchairvegas.com, a great resource for anyone wanting to get around Las Vegas in or with a wheelchair or scooter. Here's what he had to say.

Like you, I use a mobility device (power wheelchair) to get around on my own. And let me tell you in my 30+ visits to Las Vegas over the last 15 years, I have covered every piece of sidewalk on either side of the Las Vegas Strip in my chair, from the Statosphere all the way to Mandalay Bay, without any trouble. The great news is you'll find curb cuts on every sidewalk corner and wide cross walks to help you get across every intersection on the Strip. The only problem is that sometimes you might get to a busy Strip street corner and find yourself waiting for the light to change with upwards of 5-75 other people (often with a little booze in them), which makes finding the curb cut to go down on through the sea of bodies a bit of a challenge, to say the least.

The pedestrian bridges you ask about specifically are a great addition to the already super-accessibility of the Las Vegas Strip and were added over the last decade or so to to reduce traffic congestion and generally improve pedestrian safety. And yes, all of the pedestrian bridges are wheelchair/scooter friendly and have an elevator at each end of them. And, while some of the bridge elevators are a little easier to find than others, all of them are large and easy to turn around in, and glass-walled for the safety of anyone who uses them.

You'll find these pedestrian bridges in four different sections of the Strip. Here are my thoughts on using each of the bridge sets, along with a few tips I've picked up on my travels:

• Fashion Show Mall, Wynn, Palazzo, Treasure Island bridge set: While it's a bit of a hike from the Fashion Show Mall/Wynn bridge to the Wynn/Palazzo one, it's a fairly smooth roll and has great landscaping to check out on the journey. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that when you enter Palazzo on the bridge level, the elevator to get down to the casino or up to the shopping is on your immediate right and a little tricky to find. All the other sections of the pedestrian bridges in this foursome are pretty flat, generally straight-forward, and easy to use.

• Caesars Palace, Bills Gamblin' Hall & Saloon, Bally's, Bellagio bridge set: Another fairly flat and well-laid-out set of bridges. One thing to note, however, is the fact that the Bally's to Bellagio bridge lets you out right inside of Bellagio's pricey shopping mall on that side. So, if you want to get down and outside to see the hotel's beautiful fountain feature, you must turn to your right immediately once you're across the bridge and inside to find the elevator to take you down to street level; if you don't, it's a long way to the next exit of the hotel with any kind of a view of the water. Also, on the Caesars Palace side of the Bill's to Caesars bridge, once you leave the elevator you'll find the long Caesars sidewalk paved with bumpy cobblestone - the dreaded enemy of wheelchair/scooter users everywhere! Trust me, go slow over them or you might just spill your drink, like I always seem to do.

• Planet Hollywood/CityCenter bridge: Both the newest and simplest crossing on the Strip, there's an elevator outside what was until recently Hawaiian Tropic Zone on the Miracle Mile Shops side, with three on the other side (two outdoor ones by Cosmopolitan and in front of Prada and one inside Crystals, behind Prada). It's a smooth roll from one side of the Strip to the other on this gently sloping and wide pathway. The bridge leads you into the uber-high-end Crystals retail complex, but it's smooth sailing to the casino floor once you're through there.

• New York, New York, MGM Grand, Tropicana, Excalibur bridge set: Probably the group of bridges I use most often to get around, these babies see a lot of traffic every day of the year. While the NY-NY to MGM Grand and MGM Grand to Tropicana bridges are fairly simple to use in your chair, know that it's a fairly long distance on a brick pathway to get to the Trop/Excalibur bridge. Once on the Excalibur side of that bridge however, you hook up with the free and very accessible Excalibur/Luxor/Mandalay Bay casino tram, which is a good way to visit those hotels with ease. The Excalibur to New York-New York bridge is the steepest one you'll find on the entire Strip; plus, note that on the NY-NY end of it you have to make use of a short switch-back ramp to get around a small set of stairs.

One last comment I'd like to share with any power wheelchair/scooter users who are hitting Las Vegas is this: Be sure and bring your mobility device's battery charger and plug in your ride every night because believe me, the only thing worse than not having any money and being in a casino, is running out of battery power in your mobility device and having to get pushed home from the casino early.

If you have special needs, or are visiting Las Vegas with a companion who does, don't forget to check out our dedicated features within the LVA Visitor Guide and Transportation sections, where you'll find all kinds of useful information about getting around, accommodation, entertainment, gambling, and more.

Thanks for the following reader feedback: "Along with Barry's excellent answer to the bridge accessiblily with a mobility scooter question, I'd like to add a caution for scooter users also. I live in Las Vegas and use a scooter. Fellow users should not only charge their scooters nightly, they need to stay off of the carpeting as much as possible if there is an alternitive (marble floors along the edge (e.g. Bellagio) because the carpet causes so much drag on the wheels that your battery may run down much sooner than usual."