Question of the Day - 14 September 2017

Actually, you’re clairvoyant and you’re not alone. A study on the parking situation at the new stadium was revealed last June and it wasn’t pretty.

But first, to clarify one point. The 62-acre site of the football stadium won’t be right on the Strip. Rather, it’s across the I-15 freeway and just south of Russell Road, across from Mandalay Bay.

The study, financed by the team, determined that the parking lot will be big enough for only 15% of the spaces required by Clark County in order to certify the stadium for occupancy. The site needs 16,250 parking spaces, but only 2,400 spaces can be squeezed into the available acreage. The formula is one-quarter of a parking space per event attendee; since the stadium will hold 65,000, 25% of that is 16,250.

It’s expected that the 2,400 possible spaces will be occupied during home games by players and coaches, team staff, and suite holders. Which leaves the question of where the fans will park. Obviously, satellite parking will have to be arranged, but from how far away will how many shuttles will be needed?

That issue was addressed during last week's use-permit hearing at the Clark County Commission, which voted unanimously to allow the Raiders' organization to build the stadium. 

The vote also gave the team one year to develop a strategy for where fans will park their cars; at the hearing, team officials called the parking issue “the most concerning” for the project.

Two private parcels less than a mile north of the stadium are large enough to accommodate the 15,000 or so cars for home games. Not unexpectedly, however, the prices for those lots, both buying and renting, have been “escalating.”

Another idea is to carve an estimated 13,000 spaces out of the nearby Bali Hai Golf Club. However, since the property is leased by Clark County to developer Billy Walters, who was recently sentenced to five years in prison for insider trading, this possibility is up in the air for now.

A third idea that’s been floated is for UNLV, whose football team will be sharing the stadium with the Raiders, to make available the lot at Thomas and Mack Center and other vacant property for temporary parking lots.

Building a parking garage isn’t on the table, due to the importance of the tailgating experience for the rabid Raider Nation.

Here's another issue. The parking study estimated that fully half of a capacity crowd will arrive from out of town. Of those 32,500 people, nearly 20,000 will walk the 20 to 25 minutes from hotel rooms within a mile instead of trying to drive or take taxis or ride-shares.

For that possibility, Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Adam Candee walked from Mandalay Bay to the Russell Road stadium site. He wrote that he “encountered more angry drivers (one) than fellow pedestrians (zero)”; the initial grade over the overpass would be challenging for disabled people, but not able bodies; and “… the narrow sidewalk on the south side of the street will not accommodate more than two people shoulder to shoulder, which could cause a problem once thousands of people are crossing.”

The parking study recommended a new pedestrian overpass. “That option needs strong consideration, especially if the Las Vegas Monorail is extended to Mandalay Bay.”

It took Adam 11 minutes to cover the distance of slightly less than a half-mile.