Question of the Day - 13 October 2021

It was tried on State street in Chicago because of lack of business at the stores in 1979 by mayor Jane Byrne. It failed. Rush street, a bar strip, was closed on weekends successfully. Not sure if it still is, Covid etc. Madison Wisconsin has two closed strips that I read about that worked. Personally I think it would make the strip more unsafe than it is. Just more weeds for the predators to hide in. Try it on weekends.

Unlike the Fremont Street conversion to a pedestrian mall, the strip is way too long and WAY TOO WIDE with casinos that are too far apart and set back too far for a pedestrian conversion to be feasible or desirable. 

Additionally, moving that traffic to the other streets is unrealistic. Those roads are already no picnic. 

Sure, a lot of the problems would go away if the monorail would have been built right down the strip, and if it extended to the airport and downtown, but that ain’t happening either. 

The existing MonoRail is such a waste - love the concept but just getting to it is a challenge and then it doesn't stop at most of the casinos or the airport or the malls. 

It would be sustainable if it got to at least the airport and the prime outlets... then. If they got just the airport the casinos would be clamoring to put in stops at each of their properties. Perhaps then a moving walkway from the monorail to the fashion city mall and Caesar's retail would pop up.

It really should have been built over the strip with stops at each of the pedestrian bridges and sold as the best view of the strip. Should have Would have, didn't. Too late now. 

to form the "Mid-America Mall" [1], still there to this day. I left the area in the 1980's, so I can't say whether this project achieved its social and economic goals; but I have my suspicions. 
Another example is the Capitol Mall in Sacramento [2].
But the Las Vegas strip is just too long, too wide, and too hot most of the year, for something like that. And it would also help if there were some place on the strip that you want to go to: personally I gave up on it long ago, and downtown too.
OTOH, most of these civic projects--like monorails and stadiums--are important primarily for the short-term employment and economic boost they provide while they're being built. Nobody really cares if they ever make a profit, and the long-term costs can be charged to the taxpayers. 

1. http://cremedememph.blogspot.com/2020/02/mid-america-mall.html
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Mall

The Strip shouldn't be closed to traffic but certain vehicles could be banned such as large delivery trucks, 18 wheelers and those slow-moving billboard trucks that constantly drive back and forth at 10 mph. And any car with California plates 8').

Make it one way  from the Stratosphere going out  to Mandalay Bay. 

While most of the Strip casinos have back entrances, getting to them with a vehicle can be frustrating and challenging. Plus, if you do offload back there, you're often 500 miles or more from the front desk and the casino.

All the Strip casinos were designed to have visitors offload at the porta coochie or whatever it's called. It's too late to realign everything at this point, except by dynamiting everything to the ground and starting over, a remedy that, while drastic, I would favor.

About the only thing casino companies would agree to is moving walkways up and down the strip, but only if they went directly to their doors like the ones they provide into their properties from the sidewalk (Caesar’s, Bellagio, etc.) and never going out to the sidewalk. 

What about making the strip a toll road starting at the Tropicana intersection going up to the Strat? Commercial vehicles would still be permitted such as taxis and buses as would emergency vehicles. This would reduce the volume of vehicle traffic as people would be less likely to want to pay a toll to get around via Las Vegas Blvd between those two ends of the strip. The revenue from people still wanting to cruise the strip can then be used to pay for eventual changes that would make the area safer for pedestrians. Just a thought.

I have to fully object to any idea that incorporates yet ONE MORE FEE for the public to pay to do something that they now can and should continue to be able to do for free.