Planner visits Vegas, isn't horrified

Bellagio fountains. Image: author

It’s Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada - 11:30pm in front of the Bellagio fountains, to be exact. It’s still a toasty 90 degrees after a daytime high in the mid-100s. My wife and I are standing near the intersection of two ten-lane roads packed with cars – Las Vegas and Flamingo boulevards, arguably the “100% intersection” of the entire region. We’re not alone. In fact, I can think of only one other place in America where I’ve seen this many people on a sidewalk without a special event taking place. That would be Times Square. Clearly my preconceptions about Vegas are a bit off.


I originally thought Vegas was a sprawling, water-wasting mistake of a place where renting a car is an absolute must. To some degree this is true, especially away from The Strip, where things look and function like any other Sun Belt sprawlscape of fast food, big boxes, gas stations and subdivisions. But the three miles of Las Vegas Boulevard between the Wynn and Mandalay Bay (and especially the mile between The Venetian and Planet Hollywood) are like no other place in the world.

Much to my surprise, this stretch of Strip is packed with people walking – people from all over the world, many of whom choose not to drive a car for their Vegas visit. It turns out this is a logical choice. In this three-mile corridor are tens of thousands of hotel rooms, about as many slot machines and card tables, hundreds of restaurants, hundreds of shops, and one of the largest concentrations of theater-based entertainment in the world - all connected by walkways and transit options in a warm desert climate.

I was not expecting this (though I did plan the bulk of our Vegas trip as a car-free one). Here are some urban planning-related observations from our enjoyable, eye-opening (and wallet-opening) trip to Sin City:


Strip sidewalks are safe and interesting.

Bellagio sidewalk. Image: Life Cinematic (flickr)

I’ve written before how walking along wide, busy roadways can be dangerous and disconcerting. Surprisingly, walking along ten-lane Las Vegas Boulevard is relatively safe – even pleasant and interesting. In recent years, the newer casinos (presumably in partnership with local government) have improved the streetscape with trees, planters, stamped and glazed concrete sidewalks, landscaped medians, meandering paths, mist sprayers and other amenities to improve the pedestrian experience. There is usually some sort of buffer between the “through zone” of pedestrians and automobile traffic, whether it’s trees, bollards, or pirate-themed ropes and pilings (see Treasure Island). Sometimes the buffer is a bit extreme, pulling pedestrians into casino properties where there happens to be a cluster of gift shops and other schlocky casino offerings (see Harrah’s). Additional sidewalk safety comes from the fact that cars on The Strip aren’t moving that fast. As we planners know, even ten-lane roads can get congested!


Sidewalks are victims of their own success.

The worst that can be said of the Strip sidewalks is that they’re often not wide enough. Pedestrian demand far exceeds capacity, and people get squeezed where sidewalks are only eight or ten feet wide. In the core area between The Venetian and Planet Hollywood, sidewalks should be at least 25 feet wide. This area is packed with people, 24/7, and we found walking to be, in places, like pushing your way to the front of the stage at a rock concert. Widening sidewalks outward into existing casino properties would be nearly impossible. Here’s an idea: build them inward, taking away two of the ten traffic lanes! Yeah, that probably won’t happen either. Most feasibly, future development should be required to have wide sidewalks.


Hooray for pedestrian overcrossings.

Las Vegas and Flamingo boulevards. Image: Google

The skywalks of northern cities like Minneapolis create dead zones at street level. But in Vegas, they prevent dead humans at street level. Fact is, it’s hard for people to cross ten lanes of traffic on foot without problems. The pedestrian bridges of The Strip are key to keeping people moving safely on foot, as well as in cars, taxis, buses, motorcycles, or what have you (except maybe bicycles). The bridges do not create dead zones, because plenty of people are still walking to and from destinations on the same side of the street. The aforementioned intersection of Las Vegas and Flamingo boulevards has four pedestrian overcrossings linking all four corners, and is better because of them. Escalators included! Other locations along the strip have at-grade crossings that are mostly safe, with adequate crossing time and helpful countdown signals. But they are still a bit harrowing, involving turning vehicles and, well, Vegas drivers.


Strip buses: FAIL.

The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) operates two buses along Las Vegas Boulevard between Downtown and the airport through the heart of The Strip: The Deuce, a double-decker bus with frequent stops; and the Strip-Downtown Express (SDX), a double-articulated bus with stops every ¾ mile or so. Unfortunately, both buses fail in many ways. Ridership is not one of them. The two buses are the only transit options between Downtown and The Strip, so thousands of tourists use them. The problems, especially with The Deuce, are:

• Too many stops. The Deuce prides itself with stopping at every casino or hotel front door (Ironically, our stop at The Flamingo was permanently closed for reasons that are unclear). Some of these front doors are a few hundred feet apart. The constant stopping makes forward progress a patience-testing slog.

• Not enough riders pre-pay. Every bus stop has electronic pay stations accepting cash and credit cards. To board the SDX, you must pre-pay (it’s an honor system, actually). But to get on The Deuce, you have the option of feeding the on-board fare machine next to the driver. Way too may people, apparently oblivious to the sidewalk pay stations, choose to pay as they board. At one stop, it took 15 minutes to process passenger fares and get everybody on board. It didn’t help that the bus was already 20 minutes late, so people had accumulated at the stop. This, on a bus with alleged 15-minute headways. 

• Traffic. The most basic problem is that Las Vegas Boulevard is congested with vehicles of all types, slowing down the buses even further. An excusive bus lane would help. They’ve installed one in the no-man’s land between Downtown and The Strip, where the primary land use is vacant lot. But just like expanding the sidewalks, it would probably be difficult to garner support for taking away two traffic lanes away from private vehicles.

• Sorry, you can’t get on. Tragically, the three problems above compound each other to the point where buses end up stacking, with at least one filled to capacity and not accepting additional riders. At our stop, we waited 30 minutes, then boarded the second of two Deuces that showed up at the same time. Further down the line, both buses became full. The drivers had to skip several stops, stranding dozens of angry people in the hot sun. Who knows when bus #3 showed up!

Extend the Monorail!

Monorail! Image: author

In the congestion and density of The Strip, the Las Vegas Monorail is the only reliable option for getting anywhere quickly. Elevated above roads, parking lots and sometimes buildings, the Monorail is a privately operated electric transit line stretching from MGM Grand to The Sahara, with seven stops at major destinations. At $5 a ride or $12 for a day pass, it’s a bit pricier than public transit (a glimpse of life without transit subsidies). But the Monorail is quick, clean, unimpeded by traffic, and well integrated into the buildings at each stop (except for the shuttered Sahara). Unfortunately, the Monorail goes neither Downtown nor to the airport, which are two miles and one mile away, respectively. Both would be logical destinations for future expansion, which would do wonders for mobility in Las Vegas.


18b: So there are hipsters in Vegas.

Heading north toward Downtown, the action of The Strip pretty much ceases at Sahara Avenue. Once you pass the Stratosphere Tower, the urban landscape devolves into vacant lots, pawn shops, and tired old motels (some with redeeming mid-century signage). But at Charleston Boulevard, amidst the seediness, an arts district is taking hold. Creative types are breathing new life into old buildings and storefronts, even converting a former crematorium into an impressive collective called The Arts Factory. The City of Las Vegas has branded these roughly 18 blocks as “18b.” Urban observers know what follows low-rent art studios: restaurants, bars, cafes, apartments, condos. With plenty of room to expand, and a favorable location between The Strip and Downtown, I can only imagine 18b will blossom. Hopefully in doing so it can retain its creative, independent vibe that is a refreshing contrast to the commercialization of The Strip.


Downtown is trying to reclaim its namesake.

Fremont Street Experience. Now with ziplines! Image: author

Starting in the 1980s, Vegas's hive of human activity migrated from Downtown (home of Fremont Street) southward to The Strip. Nowadays, you could say Vegas’s de facto downtown is centered at Las Vegas and Flamingo boulevards, three miles south of the actual Downtown, and not even within city limits. Vegas’s skyline reflects this pattern when viewed from east or west. But while Downtown Las Vegas has seen better days, it has also seen far worse ones. It is evident that Downtown is gradually and deliberately climbing its way back. Positive developments have included:

• Fremont Street Experience, the light-and-sound-equipped-canopy-covered pedestrian zone that has occupied Downtown’s main drag since 1995;

• Fremont East, a streetscape improvement and branding effort that attempts to pull the energy of the Experience eastward down a street of dated hotels, bars and shops;

• Online shoe store Zappos.com moving its corporate headquarters from suburban Henderson to the old Las Vegas City Hall, and the city constructing its new seat of government along the west edge of Downtown; and

• The massive World Market Center complex west of the railroad, home to world-scale home furnishing and other design industry trade shows.

Vegas by bike: it could be great.

I counted just five people on bicycles in our three days in Vegas. Three of them were riding on The Strip in the middle of the day. Another was a restaurant worker in his chef whites, heading home on a children’s bike along the sidewalk of Flamingo Boulevard. Brave souls they are, considering both the traffic and weather. But I think Vegas could be a great biking city. It’s warm, dry and flat. The tourist areas are fairly compact. Major boulevards are often paralleled by lower-volume streets that could serve as bikeways. An RTC bike map reveals that bike lanes are not uncommon in Vegas suburbs like Henderson and Summerlin. But during our visit I saw only one bike lane-equipped street in Vegas proper. It was a green-painted bike lane like those popping up more bike-friendly cities. This is a good sign – it probably means the city’s transportation planners have more in the works.

Et cetera.

I could go on and on about planning in Vegas. Water issues. Xeriscaping. Solar power. Foreclosures. Unincorporated areas. Maglev trains to L.A. But I’ll stop here. Las Vegas is a fascinating place, with a completely unique set of opportunities and challenges. As a visiting planner, I was surprised that I wasn’t totally horrified. I invite you to visit or revisit Vegas and see it from a different perspective. On foot, perhaps.