Cars drive over a bridge built to bypass construction for the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix on Flamingo Rd Monday, Oct. 30, 2023.
Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023 | 5:43 p.m.
The Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix will be taking down grandstands and rolling up the track fencing after this Saturday’s race, but some structures may be here to stay permanently.
At the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority meeting this morning, Steve Hill — CEO of the LVCVA — said they “have already started with” conversations to make the Flamingo Road vehicular bridge a permanent fixture in Las Vegas.
“If you go out there now, the traffic’s better than it was before we started to build on this, and that bridge is a big part of that and it’s gonna make sense to make that happen,” Hill said.
The LVCVA has been speaking with Clark County as well as the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix team, who built this bridge as a way to help cars reach the interior of their 3.8-mile track that utilizes the intersecting Koval Lane.
During the meeting, Hill noted that Gov. Joe Lombardo was the person who pitched the idea of building a vehicular bridge. Hill believes the county sees the benefits of having this Flamingo Road bridge permanently available, he said.
While Formula One can decide what to do with any grandstands located on property they’ve bought, expect many other aspects of the racetrack — like the lighting fixtures and barriers– to be cleaned up following this weekend’s event.
For example, Hill pointed out that the grandstands around the Sphere will not become a permanent fixture even despite promises of Formula One’s return next year “because the Sphere needs that access to their property.”
He also mentioned that the hospitality areas, coverings over pedestrian bridges and “virtually everything you see that is not on Formula One’s land will be removed.”
As for when that will be done, that’s still up in the air. Hill said they have to deconstruct the track “in conjunction with all the other events and shows that are happening in (the resorts) corridor.”
The Amazon Web Services re:Invent conference, which is being hosted in multiple venues across the Strip, will bring crowds of people from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1 and begin setting up for their events immediately after this weekend, Hill said.
And less than a week later, the National Finals Rodeo and Cowboy Christmas will take over parts of Las Vegas from Dec. 7 through 16.
“It’ll be about a six- or eight-week process before all of the temporary structures are back down, but things will happen intermittently,” Hill said.
But despite the traffic-related woes and headaches caused by some of the Formula One construction, Hill seems positive that they’ll learn from this year’s event and reduce the issues going forward.
One of those lessons has been the vehicular bridge on Flamingo Road, said Hill. He explained that the bridge, along with other transportation projects like The Boring Company’s Vegas Loop, are steps the LVCVA “can take and will take in order to make this (race) much less intrusive on everybody here.”
“We recognize how disruptive this first year has been on the community, the workers here, our visitors; it’s an investment (F1) have made in our future, their future,” Hill said. “This is a game-changing week for Las Vegas and it will be for years to come, and it will be much easier after this year.”
