Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

EDITORIAL:

Why Southern Nevada needs mass transit

We have never been shy about envisioning and building our future; the time is now to launch a light rail system befitting Las Vegas.

One of the great things about the valley, the youngest among America’s big metropolitan areas, is that it has never stopped trying to be the best it can.

If a casino no longer could hold its own along the increasingly competitive Strip, it would be demolished and a better one would be built in its place — bigger, sexier and more productive. When downtown’s Fremont Street lost its luster, it was reinvented as a pedestrian promenade covered by a huge, digitized canopy.

To bring even more people to town to do business, and recognizing that conventiongoers are a huge segment of our tourism market, meeting and exhibition facilities were expanded, securing our title as the most accommodating convention city in the country. When gambling was losing favor among younger visitors, casino bosses gave up gambling space in favor of night clubs, ultra lounges and other swanky spaces where a new generation of Vegas visitors could hang out, and fine dining, shopping and entertainment reached new heights of sophistication.

To give UNLV greater credibility, the region lobbied hard for the Legislature to fund a medical school to help address our shortage of physicians. When McCarran International Airport — the seventh-busiest in the country in terms of takeoffs and landings — got crowded, a new terminal was added. Because of concerns that Las Vegas lacked a dedicated venue for fine arts, philanthropists funded the construction of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts. Space for outdoor music festivals was identified and, to accommodate more concerts and sports, MGM Resorts International built an arena.

Las Vegas always has moved forward in ways that improved the quality of life for residents and burnished our attractiveness to visitors.

And now it’s time to tackle a problem that long has irritated us and for which there seems to be a virtually painless solution. We’re talking about how to relieve traffic congestion along the Strip with a street-level light rail system. It would do more than just be a carrier of people; it would itself become part of the Strip experience. For a nominal fare, or possibly even for free, passengers could get on and off and back on the next set of cars, be comfortably seated, camera in hand, while soaking in the Strip’s signature sights without worrying about rear-ending a car or dodging a vehicle changing lanes.

This light rail system would take visitors deplaning at McCarran to their hotels, move visitors from one resort to another (tourists on average visit six resorts during their stay) and allow locals to park their cars at large lots near Town Square and hop aboard the train to have a day or evening of fun. They wouldn’t have to worry, for instance, about where to park if going to an event at the T-Mobile Arena. And, of course, the transit system could be used to get to work.

This system would take riders not just to the downtown area, with connections to the Arts District and the Smith Center, but would extend to Cashman Center and, ideally, to North Las Vegas. It would connect entertainment districts, encourage visitors to explore more of the city and broadly expand the number of customers who visit stores and restaurants along Las Vegas Boulevard.

Paying for the system could be accomplished in various ways, including tapping room tax revenue and proceeds from the sale of surplus federal BLM land. In any event, a goal is for locals to feel little if any financial impact.

There is little doubt that such a system would be accepted wildly by visitors and locals alike. Cities across the United States that have built light rail transit systems say their ridership estimates were reached much sooner than expected, and businesses along the route say they became busier than ever with customers who previously hadn’t ventured onto their block.

If we don’t move forward and improve our transportation system, we risk becoming a victim of our own success, with families and entire conventions grousing about our increasing congestion and lack of modern, urban transit, the kind seen in Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and the list goes on. It’s time for us to get on board as well.

Indeed, the Regional Transportation Commission has begun the dialog for light rail transit, and we support its goals. This is the time to embrace that plan — and to boldly build upon it. We are at the start of an idea that needs to be adopted and emboldened to reach rich payoffs at the end. With creative funding will come tantalizing results: A light rail system more experiential, fulfilling and rider-friendly than any in the nation.

No, we’ve never stopped trying to be the best we can. We’re not a city that loses momentum by stopping to reflect on all that we’ve done; we look ahead at what still needs to be done. That opportunity now is staring us in the face. It’s the right time, for the right reasons, with the right ways to pay for it, for us to not just embrace the proposal by the Regional Transportation Commission but to enrich it. There is too much at stake for us to hesitate and question.

Las Vegas has never disappointed. We are a community built on keen vision and expert execution. We can and we must develop a light rail system, not just to remain the great city we are but to build on that success — for our visitors, our businesses and ourselves.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy