We love going downtown where we can stroll along the pedestrian mall, the part of Fremont Street's that closed off to traffic. It's nice not to have to worry about traffic lights, cars turning into and out of driveways, taking escalators over intersections ... What are the chances that the Strip will ever be closed off to vehicle traffic?
Anything's possible, but we'd say the chances are slim to none. And Slim's up at Tahoe, playing poker (an old gambler's joke).
The Strip is four miles long. Thus, the public-transportation situation would have to be able to move tens of thousands of people along the famous boulevard at any given time.
Another obstacle would be visitors' attachment to cruising the Strip in their cars –- even if it's more of a crawl than a cruise at the best of times. It's a long-honored ritual, even more so since Fremont Street was closed to cars and the Strip was designated a scenic highway. Politicians would have to buck a lot of public sentiment to ban cars from the Strip.
However, proposals have been floated over the years.
For example, a subsurface light-rail system along the Strip was among the recommendations from a study commissioned by the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, two years in the making. While the cost was estimated to run anywhere from $2.1 billion to $12.5 billion (it would be much cheaper if built at grade), a $1 billion light-rail system in Phoenix generated $7 billion in economic impact, rather than the anticipated $3 billion. But it's a long-term project that could take up to 20 years to accomplish...
... Or more, if arterials are included. Above-ground lines along Harmon Avenue to McCarran International, and to McCarran via Tropicana Avenue and Hacienda, would presumably branch off from the main Strip system. Light rail or streetcars were envisioned running along Flamingo Road and Charleston Boulevard, facilitating traffic to the Strip. Also proposed was a streetcar line connecting downtown to McCarran along Maryland Parkway.
Then there's the question of which, if any, vehicles would have access to the Strip. Taxis? Presumably, cabbies would be supportive of anything that reduced non-commercial auto traffic on the Strip, enabling them to get from fare to fare faster. Likewise the mobile billboards.
Buses? Prior to CAT bus service beginning operations in 1992, Las Vegas mass transit was provided by a private company, Las Vegas Transit. The Strip was their only profitable route and supported the bus system for the whole valley. It would be hard to ban buses from the Strip, even with a light-rail system in place, while having to support citywide public buses.
When one of the key pioneers of the Las Vegas Monorail, Robert Broadbent, proposed installing the service on Las Vegas Boulevard, he came up against staunch opposition from the casinos, torpedoed by resort power brokers who viewed the system as a means to leave their properties instead of get to them. They also believed that the large concrete guideways would be a distraction to sightlines in front of their beautiful buildings.
All in all, we don't see a rail system on the Strip or private automobiles being banned in our lifetimes.
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Jackie
Dec-18-2017
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