7 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

Las Vegas, NV Review-Journal, 6/1/14:

Ridership is up, the economy is improving, new attractions are opening, so let’s just cut to the chase about the Las Vegas Monorail: When will Las Vegas see a line extension to McCarran International Airport?

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[GG-1]

Aloha

This is the most recent Article in The Review Journal

[Sloan]

 

 

Monorail to McCarran? Still too expensive, executive says

When Curtis Myles goes to a family barbecue this weekend, he'll likely get this question from his dad before hellos are exchanged: "When is the monorail going to be extended to the airport?"

It's now a standing joke for Myles, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Monorail, which operates the elevated 3.9-mile system east of the Strip.

"It's always one of the first things people ask me or any of the members of my team when they find out we work for the monorail," Myles told about 30 people who gathered at the SLS Las Vegas for his keynote address Friday at Monorailex 2015, a two-day gathering of the International Monorail Association.

http://www.reviewjou...-executive-says

 

Procrastination will drive construction costs higher.  It would be better for the corporation to cobble together a public—private financing scheme in order to get started right away.  Casinos would love to have an airport link to bring more gamblers to the slots and roulette tables.

 

   Sloan

[Sloan]

From O Scale Trolley Modelers:

 

LAS VEGAS officials are considering the possibility of developing an 8.7-mile, $460 million urban light rail line, possibly similar to Phoenix, Ariz., Valley Metro, to link McCarran International Airport with downtown via Maryland Parkway -- all on the surface -- with service opening in 2023. But the Las Vegas Review-Journal in an editorial says there is reason to be skeptical about the concept. The editorial board says the need is for high capacity transit from the airport to the "Strip," meaning casino-lined Las Vegas Boulevard, and the city convention center. Las Vegas Monorail does not connect with the airport:

[KevinKorell]

Seems to me that what is delaying anything being built to the airport is the dickering over whether this would be monorail or light rail technology. Monorail already exists, but its reach is really limited to the properties on the east side of the Strip. So with the need to serve the west side of the Strip, downtown Las Vegas, and other areas, light rail may better fit the bill. Light rail does not necessarily need to operate on an elevated structure like a monorail does, as it can ride below grade, or at grade including within street traffic if no other alternative route exists.

[Sloan]

 

 

RTC to examine proposal to extend monorail

 

The Las Vegas Monorail’s path to funding a mile-long extension might run with some help from the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada.

http://www.reviewjou...extend-monorail

Looks like the plan is to force riders to switch to bus shuttle in order to get to the airport.  That scheme is a deterrent to attracting riders!

 Sloan

[KevinKorell]

If the monorail gets extended to Mandolay Bay as proposed in the cited article, it will take the route tantalizingly close to the airport property, but it will then cross the Strip to the west side well away from the airport.

 

Monorail would be the right technology to run right to airport terminals, much like some of the AirTrains in service now.  To force a transfer to bus, which one can take now anyhow to the airport, would not be the prudent thing to do.  Decisions will have to be made whether to have a multi-pronged system, so serve either the airport or Mandolay Bay..

[Sloan]

 

 

Las Vegas monorail extension [to the airport] in the works

Three sentences and a photo in this digest-style article are here:

 

http://www.staradver...n-in-the-works/