Let's Redesign the Las Vegas Strip 

The Strip wasn't built for pedestrians, or to be pedestrian-friendly. The design is to keep people OFF the streets. The casinos want you inside, spending money. Notice that there is no place to sit outdoors (or indoors) either, unless you are in a place (restaurant, bar, slot machine) where you can spend money. The Strip wasn't designed for you (or me).

I think you're neglecting a very important factor. Very important. Once you're inside a casino, they don't want you to get out. They don't want it to be easy to find an exit. And certainly don't want it to be pleasant to walk down the strip to another casino. They want it to be unpleasant. You're safe here at home in the casino. It's nasty outside and you won't like it. Any ideas you may have about making it easier or attractive will be... RESISTED by those who pay taxes.

The Las Vegas strip seems like a perfect candidate for a streetcar or light rail

The only reason to "stroll the boulevard" is to traverse the multiple-city-block-sized void between megacomplexes, basically walking from one entire self-enclosed shopping mall to another. The fundamental model of business on the strip is trapping visitors in your particular omni-entertainment bubble. The street experience will always be held to a "just good enough" level by local interests.

Biggest problem is, if the casinos don't want it, it won't happen. And they want people to come and STAY in their properties, not walk the Strip like it's Broadway in NYC.

Vegas native. Some observations. What you see today on the strip is actually much better than it used to be. In the 70s and 80s, as car drivers, we'd do *anything* not to cross the strip when traveling east-west, as it would take you several cycles of the light to get past Las Vegas Boulevard. The pedestrian bridges and barricades to pedestrians at-grade you see were part of a massive effort to alleviate the problem, in order to prevent the conflict of pedestrians crossing and cars turning right. The other big push at the same time was convincing the casinos to move their motorcourts, garage entrances, taxi stands, and valet stands to the rear of the property, fronting streets such as Koval on the east, and Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, and Frank Sinatra streets to the west. Given our current understanding of ideal pedestrian-friendly, multi-modal transportation, it's hard to fault the decisionmakers in the 80s and 90s doing what they did. They had a specific problem, and they solved it -- from the perspective of locals who drive cars to get around. I do agree with you that the wide median is a wasted opportunity. Back when they constructed the monorail, multi-mode transportation didn't have the cool factor that it does today. What they should have done is route it right down the center of Las Vegas Boulevard, going from the airport all the way to downtown/Fremont Street. The other thing that has improved things dramatically in the last 20 years is that they've constructed the 215 beltway, and widened/improved the 15 freeway through the strip corridor. So now, you don't necessarily need to cross the strip to travel east-west, nor drive it for north-south. I wouldn't be surprised if, 20 years from now, they made the strip all-pedestrian, a la 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

A couple things not mentioned: the taxis, up until recently with the growth of rideshare, have always reigned supreme in LV (helped by the fact that they, at least were, owned by the mafia). This is why the monorail stops just before the airport at MGM and not continuing on, which may be in the Nebula episode. Also, Macau's original casinos are where you mentioned, but more of them are popping up across the water on a larger scale and taking up entire city blocks, similar to LV, but not all along one strip.

Light rail seem a much better option that BRT, especially in such a rich place like Las Vegas. The upkeep costs will be less and you can have higher capacity will less clumping.

3:37 “use all five of our senses to understand the space as deeply as possible” Can confirm, Vegas asphalt tastes like asphalt.

Vegas res. 1yr now.. The walking overpass is honestly nice, BUT if implemented with busing it'd be great! The Art District/ Fremont St. area is really setting an example, love what they're doing there. Always excited for your content, especially today!!

The Vegas strip reminds me of the touristy portion of Waikiki: it’s a voluntary prison for the tourists. Difficult and unpleasant to leave and full of touristy shiny stuff to keep you stuck. I think the isolation is very purposeful.

As someone who until recently lived in Las Vegas I can say for sure that the Strip is awful. The design is not pedestrian or vehicle friendly and locals avoid it unless they have no other option. Vegas missed a great opportunity to have the monorail run down the middle of the strip and make it more accessible to all casinos and make it a tourist attraction to see the strip from an elevated position. It should have also connected to the airport like any real city but the taxi authority shot that down.

3 year LV local here. You definitely managed to "figure out" a lot of the weirdness of the strip! My only critique is in its current state, no one in their right mind bikes around the strip area, and it would feel to me disingenuous to tourists to add bike lanes...it's just too dangerous once you get more than a block or two off the blvd. Summerlin and Henderson are another story though, and I'd LOVE to hear your opinion on Summerlin. The Las Vegas area that most residents actually live in is VERY different from the one you documented here and immediately surrounding the strip. A few points you missed that I think actually strengthen your arguments though: Locals avoid the main strip like the plague. If you work at one of the hotels or shows, chances are your employee garage is accessible only from the roads behind the hotels anyway, and you only traverse the strip to cross it. Even then, many try to take Desert Inn (the only surface road that tunnels under the strip) or a freeway to get across. Additionally, most of the casino entrances are on the cross roads, not the strip itself. It really wouldn't take much to reduce the car traffic, and honestly it's still surprising to me there's so much. This would never happen, but I honestly would love to see the strip get the Fremont street treatment. Pedestrian only.

The Strip might as well be lined with decent vegetation and endemic trees to provide some shade and yet make it more walkable.

The guardrails separating the sidewalk from the road are actually for pedestrian safety! There have been cases in the past of vehicles veering off the road and into dense groups of pedestrians which is why they separated pedestrians from the road, however a central bus line is still a great idea!

Just a couple of corrections: Macau street view images are from 2008, and the streets look now completely different (its better to just google pictures of the streets) and Avenida da Amizade is not equivalent to the Las Vegas Strip - Estrada do Istmo in the Cotai area is.

I’ve been here since 93, and while this is a lovely idea, you have to account for the drunks. The reason for those annoying fences is to keep drunks from wandering on to Las Vegas blvd and being turned into a ping pong ball. Another issue is security. The overpasses are lovely, but the Clark County Sheriffs had to crack down on the street vendors and hustlers because of all the stabbings. Whatever solution gets floated is going to have to deal with these two major issues. Another thing to consider is an aging and “scooter” based population. I don’t know how many folks on some kind of assisted mobility device you came across, but any solution is going to need to keep them in mind.

I love the enthusiasm but they put those pedestrian bridges in because too many people were being hit and killed by traffic. The sidewalk barriers are installed to prevent a terrorist attack from driving through crowds. The 12 lanes actually function pretty efficiently for traffic flow and emergency vehicle access. Drive a few laps around the strip at night and during the day and you really don't sit in traffic for very long.

This solutions would be great if Vegas were a normal city but it's not. It's built on a foundation of consumption/tourism and consumption happens inside the casinos. Developers in Vegas purposefully made the city layout hard to navigate and inconvenient for pedestrians so that will stay off the streets and stick to the casinos. Same reason casinos don't have windows and have a confusing layout. They want to keep you inside spending money. Developers of the strip are not trying to make the city a better place for people to live and get around unfortunately

5:30 Vegas did have a BRT system, it was called SDX (Strip & Downtown Express). From RTC South Strip Transfer Terminal south of the Welcome to Las Vegas sign/McCarren Airport to Las Vegas North Premium Outlets past the Government sector to the west of Fremont. It got cancelled shortly after the pandemic started. You can still see the BRT infrastructure in the Arts District.

1) Having ALL your attractions on one road is stupid 2) Having ALL your attractions on one road without an underground subway servicing it is even stupider.

After having stayed on the strip a couple times, when I come back I will definitely be staying in downtown Fremont St. area instead. It's just better in every way, and it's easy to go down and experience the strip and shows for a few hours while you're there. Cheaper (lower casino minimums, reasonably priced food, etc.), much more walkable, interesting museums and other attractions besides casinos, and still an experience.

Nobody's walking or riding a bike anywhere when it's 110℉ outside.

When I last went to Vegas, I had to drive through terrible, congested traffic just to get from one side of the strip to the other because it was too far (and too hot) to walk. The paucity of public transit in the city is honestly appalling, and it makes the city's dedication to Musk's useless tunnel system infuriating.

Instead of Mandalay Bay, the monorail should be extended south to the airport and north to Fremont. A streetcar line should be built along The Strip and connect to those two stations, enhancing both lines' utility and overall ridership.

I love everything about this idea. The monorail also has one major thing going against it: it's functionally invisible. The signage for it is inside the casinos and is almost impossible to spot (bordering on nonexistent). You also wouldn't even know it was there because it's tucked away behind all the high-rise buildings on the east side of the strip (except for Mandalay Bay). Putting effective bus transit in the middle of the road would not only be super visible, but would make it much harder for casino operators to hide that it's there. Also, attempting to walk From Mandalay Bay up the strip is almost impossible in spots. There are very poor pedestrian affordances that (read: no sidewalks) that need to be addressed for this plan to really work.

I can’t even begin to imagine the traffic hell of trying to redo the strip for a bus line or train.

A bus running the length of the strip would be fantastic! Or better yet a rail system

I live in Vegas. The pedestrian bridges are great since it allows constant pedestrian traffic to flow compared to having tourists cross with traffic. Just look at other cities like New York City where pedestrians routinely jaywalk or do not follow the signals. They are walking across maybe the equivalent of 3 to 5 lanes and a couple of inattentive pedestrians can waste a half of a light cycle for turning traffic. This is really seen at the hotel entrances/driveways where it can back up traffic when pedestrians cross or ignore active driveways. Locals tend to avoid the Strip more since many of the resorts charge for parking (there are some reduced resident rates or free parking lots), but it's avoided for being too busy or expensive. As for public transit, it needs work but the RTC has come up with ways to help residents go to football and hockey games via the bus (park free at the commuter lots for free and take a direct express bus to the event for $2 each way). They also just created new bus lines to serve newer parts of town as well as the large Amazon warehouses in the northern edges of town.

A.) Las Vegas Casino/Hotels _do not_ want guest leaving their properties - and spending money at their competitors. B.) (Most) Americans will not use public transit as their is a perception that it is for "poor people," and they don't want to intermingle with _those people._

Fences on the sidewalks are to keep drunk people from stumbling into or trying to cross the street without a crosswalk. The heavier duty barriers are to prevent cars from plowing into the sidewalks.

Even if you fix transit, a big problem with the strip is the casinos and hotels are usually pretty far off the road. Unless the goal was to just meander down the strip, my friends and I would always take a taxi to our destination. They know all the routes to avoid the strip, they can pick you up right at your hotel's entrance, and they can drop you off right at the entrance of your destination.

Hot take: Put the street underground and pedestrianize everything above.

I recently moved to Mexico City from NY and It's amazing how much urban planning and design in general is WAY better than here almost all US and Canadian cities, If you haven't been here you should absolutely check it out

I understand that adding a regular street crosswalk would be easier for pedestrians to use however I think the pedestrian overpasses brings a kind of fun and unique element to the strip. I personally enjoy riding the escalator to walk across the streets whenever I’m in Vegas

I believe one of the issues is the huge taxi lobby for what you see on the LV strip. When I need to drive to casinos on the strip, I avoid Las Vegas blvd as much as possible and just use the side streets as well as the back entrances to the casino parking lots.

Those fences are key for keeping drunk gamblers from wandering the streets lol. Very necessary

The monorail needs to be extended to Downtown and Terminals 1 and 3.

You know what’s crazy is this idea is actually present a couple of blocks north of the strip. By the North Outlet Malls they actually have this setup. But then again that’s North Las Vegas and its a different city altogether. I wish they would extend it to the strip though.

I like the thought of improving transit on the strip, however, I wonder how supportive the casinos would be of increasing hotel guests' ability to more easily move further from their casinos. I love your videos btw, and thank you and the team for your dedication to this content.

The Strip could probably be one of the strongest transit corridors in the country... you have an incredibly high concentration of destinations and hotels in a very confined linear corridor with Downtown Las Vegas as a strong anchor to the north and the airport as a strong anchor to the south. With a very good transit line here, visitors would have no need for a car or taxi during their entire time in LV.

This was very nice video! You should do some more videos focusing on small towns and cities! My own town is trying to be more walkable and I love it

As a former resident of Las Vegas, here's my proposal: PHASE I ~ Elevated Pedestrian Plazas ~ This would primarily be around 10' in elevation, perhaps 20' wide, with the inside edges overhanging the outermost traffic lanes. These traffic lanes would be eliminated, providing space for valet, taxis, and rideshare driveways for visitors favoring these methods. A portion of this reclaimed area would also be used for dedicated, protected bike lanes which additionally benefit from the shade and shelter of the pedestrian plazas above. ~ Emphasis would be placed on outdoor amenities ranging from benched planters (to provide frequent shady resting points for visitors) to small outdoor cafes. Lighting would be subtle, such as LEDs beneath the guardrails, so as to provide adequate nighttime illumination without clashing with the visual spectacle of the Las Vegas Strip at night. This would also offer spectacular viewing opportunities for displays such as the Bellagio fountains or the Treasure Island pirate show. ~ Only minimal increases in elevation would be permitted when crossing roadways, as part of this plan is to eliminate all commercial traffic (including buses) from Las Vegas Boulevard proper. Such crossings would be fairly frequent, excepting locations selected for Phase II development. PHASE II ~ Boulevard Monorail Project ~ The primary component of this phase would be the construction of a suspended monorail system, initially running from Fremont Street to New York, New York (eventually connecting with McCarran Airport, the existing monorail, and the elevated tram from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay). Boarding locations would be around 18' in elevation, centered between the Phase I pedestrian plazas, with each location also providing public amenities such as restrooms and drinking fountains. Given the nature of the Las Vegas Strip, these would also be ideal locations for staffed information desks and emergency personnel (primarily police and medical). ~ The innermost traffic lanes (one on each side) would be reclaimed to provide workspace during construction, and later to increase the median foliage. In addition to the visual aesthetics, this would help abate the desert heat in addition to providing safety islands for those who choose to cross Las Vegas Boulevard at ground level. ~ Again, care will be taken with lighting in order to provide ample illumination for nighttime usage while remaining modest enough so as to not clash with the visibility of displays. PHASE III ~ McCarran Airport Connection & Existing Monorail Integration ~ This third phase would include the stations near The Strat and New York, New York integrating Phase II with the existing monorail and elevated tram systems. Additionally, the system would be expanded to include direct access to the passenger terminals at McCarran Airport. FUNDING ~ While this is unquestionably an expensive undertaking, it would be an even bigger boon to businesses along Las Vegas Boulevard as to visitors. As such the primary funding sources for construction would be the casinos/hotels themselves (as well as McCarran Airport, during Phase III), with only a smaller portion (perhaps 25%) coming from public/government sources. ~ Ongoing expenses would be handled entirely through public/government sources, though the increased revenues provided by this project should more than offset the operational costs for the monorail. As such Phase II would operate fare-free, ideally persuading LVCVA to operate the existing monorail fare-free. While I'm sure I've overlooked a few things in this monologue, I'm confident that this general plan would be the best possible solution to addressing multimodal transportation along the Las Vegas Strip. Let's just face it, shall we? The combination of pedestrian and monorail vistas along Las Vegas Boulevard would be an immense tourism draw unto itself - a win-win-win for everyone by every conceivable metric!

I lived in Vegas for a year. I feel that unless you get public transit out to where most of the workers live, then reimagining the strip for pedestrians won't make any sense.

CityNerd just released a video on a Las Vegas Stroad yesterday!! Is there a city convention going on there or something??

I'm guessing it's way too much to ask for a Las Vegas Strip metro? Underground airconditioned stations and tunnels connecting to casinos sounds pretty good to me.

Fantastic video demonstrating the methods of planning analysis that go into organizing an urban space. Thanks Dave!

I love this kind of content. Please do more; the hi-hats, crashes and efx's cymbals. Love you guys.

As someone who has been to Vegas recently and lived there for about a year I have some ideas. I think the strip should be turned into a pedestrian space like Fremont Street just to the north or like Beal Street in Memphis. The cross streets to LV Boulevard, like Tropicana, Flamingo, Desert Inn, etc can remain vehicle intersections, but the area between should be pedestrian only, maybe with a monorail above, tram line, or electric buses in dedicated lanes. Something like this would be a massive project since most of the resorts have LVB entrances and parking access.

Grew up in Vegas. Worked driving deliveries along the strip for a while. The pedestrian bridges are great to keep the streams of tourist from crossing illegally and dying.

Actually, many of the newer, fancier casinos in Macao were located along the Estrada do Istmo in Cotai, which was more similar to the strip with wider avenues

Las Vegas local here. I can tell you that all the locals avoid driving on The Strip as much as possible. There are a lot of side streets that bypasses The Strip to get the back entrance to the casinos. Only employees or locals would take these streets. I think redesigning the street to reduce traffic would be amazing, since it is by far the worst street to drive on in the city.

Since you're already talking about monorails, is there any chance you could make a video about the one in Wuppertal one day?

I really liked that this one was more of a thought experiment, and showed how to approach the problem.

Speaking as someone who went to college in Flagstaff, a three or four hour drive away from the strip, and visited way more often than I'd like to admit. I feel like any discussion about changing the strip has to include changes to the streets going to the parking garages in the back. After my first trip I avoided the strip entirely and went straight to the closest parking garage to where I wanted to be. If that access was made easier from the freeway you would probably get less resistance to knocking out a few of those 12 car lanes.

Video ideas How palaces are planned How military bases are planned How universities are planned How industrial farms are planned

The one think to remember about the strip is that it probably has the most Drunk Walkers. People walking between casinos with big drinks in their hand, not watching where they’re going. Just stumbling forward. So any overpass or lack of fences I think is by design, to manage these bumbling fools.

Also, you’re STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to take a “limo” from McKaren to the Strip (try to find the Uber pick-up)

The escalators and bridges to cross the street is one of the better designs I've seen in America. It bypasses drivers who think they are better than pedestrians since they are in a car.

I remember driving on the Strip last summer, and even though as a driver I had so much of the infrastructure devoted to me, it was a complete pain in the ass to navigate. All the extra space made it more confusing to figure out where to go. I definitely think LV Blvd should be four lanes instead of eight; some of those lanes need to be repurposed. The inner lanes ought to be used for a major public transit project, ideally LRT that stops every couple casinos. The outer lanes should be repurposed as pedestrian malls, with space designed for food stalls, street performers, just stuff to give the whole experience of walking the Strip some more character.

3:25 This doesn't seem to add up: 50,000 pedestrians, vs. 60,000 vehicles. Even if they were all cars only with the driver in, that's already 10,000 more, thus, the majority. If you account for multiple passengers in a car, public transit, other kinds of busses, well, that goes way up. I do understand the need (and advantages) to make more pedestrian-friendly cities, but not by making it a war on drivers, specially when there's so many people that for a lot of different reasons need to drive (or use a motor vehicle) and walking is not an option. For a city to actually be better, you can't benefit one group at the expense of other, that'll only generate backlash further down the line.

You've suggested dedicated mass transit lanes up and down the centre of a relatively short distance, but why gas powered buses, not electric light rail / trams?

Love the nod to residents and workers knowing the strip better than a visitor might. At what point in the process would you seek their input? This is obviously a larger project that affects a large area. I wondered if there were any more incremental, guerilla urbanism tactics that could be used to re-inhabit the space?

If you could redesign the strip, there would be no car traffic on the street. It would be 1 walkable space with an underground LRT. Vehicle access to hotels would only be from the side streets. But since that will never happen, they should force MGM to upgrade the street presence of Cystals & Aria. That maze of concrete that you have to walk around is ridiculous

Really enjoyed the video! I've been going to Vegas since I was a kid so here's a few things I've noticed: 1. People that are dressed up going to a bar, club or restaurant don't want to hop on a bus. They would rather take a taxi or Uber which can navigate on small streets so they get to their destination faster. You get a little privacy and there aren't a bunch of random guys hitting on the ladies. The taxi or Uber also drops you off right at the valet so you can enter the casino quickly. With the bus everyone is wearing dress shoes or heels and now you have to walk from bus stop to the entrance, which sometimes isn't easy to find. Also, the vibe of the bus is more of an older touristy vibe and not the young "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" story to tell your friends. 2. The rails on the strip are to prevent people from jaywalking, people have got hit and killed. Drunk people get into fights and sometimes that would spill onto the street as well. Then you have the guy on drugs that wants to dance in the street. The rails prevent most of that surprisingly. 3. The city of Vegas want people to walk from hotel to hotel. They're drinking so they are more willing to spend money at a bar, souvenir store or slot machines placed near the entrance. Also, open container laws make walking the strip at night a lot of fun. You talk to strangers, take a picture for them as they pose in front of something, exchange pleasantries and everyone goes on their way. In my 20's we would run into bachelorette parties and we would invite them to the club we were going to and we would party lol. Vegas would have been better if the monorail system pulled up directly to the hotels. But the hotels don't want a monorail system that would block the view of the front. Can you imagine the Bellagio water show being blocked by a monorail track? As it is now you can be across the street and see whats going, you can see the Mirage volcano (sadly, soon to be destroyed), you can see the Eiffel Tower and the Venetian's architecture is beautiful to stare at. If Vegas and the casinos were on the same page, we could have had a monorail system that runs behind all the hotels in a giant loop. But it's probably way too late for that as all the space is already being used up.

Would love to see a vegas strip video about crowd control. Those pedestrian bridges you mention in this video often act more like a funnel into casinos and luxury shops than a means to get from one side of a street to another, with stairways being tucked off to the side while the main walkways dump directly into malls. Also, the completely lack of available seating throughout the strip, the exteriors, and even the interiors of these resorts. The best outdoor seating solution on the strip that I found was literally 2 giant slanted rocks. Everything else was either majorly slanted to keep people off (even the bollards are slanted) or was a seat at a slot machinea, another gambling game, or a restaurant's private seating.

^ LV local. It's worth noting that almost all vehicle traffic on the boulevard is superfluous or mostly people 'cruising' to see the sights. Both sides of the strip are serviceable by parallel streets on their back sides; employees and locals take these streets. My vote would be to convert the entire boulevard to pedestrian only with park areas.

With Vegas looking to add a Formula 1 race along the strip, I doubt any future plans would have them reducing the number of lanes down Las Vegas Blvd.

I stayed a couple nights on the strip with a friend earlier this month, and it's somewhat walkable but feels unwalkable. An average city block in a normal city, or even in Downtown Vegas, would be between 2-5 acres. But on the strip? The city blocks roughly follow the PLSS and are 20, 40, 80 acres or even larger. Better pedestrian signage helps as well.

I love your videos because it makes school for me fun! Keep it up! And you should do Canton Ohio next because people majorly underrate it but it’s actually a decent city :) i would love that. ❤️

As a Las Vegas native, those fences are needed. Ppl get very drunk and stumble into the street and drivers get drunk and drive onto sidewalks.

Loved the format and length of this one

I've noticed you like to put dedicated bus Lanes on the left lane, is there a specific reason why it wouldn't be better to put it on the right lane? Closest to the pedestrian walkway, minimizing the amount of crossing needed?

The Strip would be a perfect place for a protected bike lane + bikeshare. Many locations are too far to walk / too short to drive, but perfect distance for biking.

Look at the area of Grand Central and Bonneville. They have the middle bus lane, but as you mentioned, that is also Las Vegas and not Paradise. A light rail could even be productive on the BLVD. Connecting Fremont to the T-mobile Arena and the Allegiant Stadium.

Like others have mentioned, I'd go further than buses and ad a light rail or tram on one side of the median strip with the other part of median strip as garden/park areas with spaces around stops for market stalls etc.

I love the idea of escalators for pedestrian overpasses!! Why can't my city have those!😍

Last time I was in Vegas I had the simple task of going to Harrah's garage, going to the 3rd floor and parking in a reserved parking spot I paid more money then I should have on. From the Interstate to the Strip was maybe 3 miles, probably less. It took 50 minutes, I was almost involved in 4 HEAD ON collisions and there was a Motorcycle in my parking spot owned by a Tree of a man, it was his now... However the casino is next to Guy Fieris restaurant with the mountain of cheese fries I crave. I usually go to the Luxor because it's a Pyramid and it's eazy to get to. I don't go to the Strip much anymore. Edit- I've been informed that distance is .5 miles.. lololol lol 🤡🤡🤡

Macau also has the Cotai Strip, a reclamation zone between Taipa and Coloane islands. The largest casinoes are located there nowadays. In the winter, it makes for a pleasant stroll, given the casinoes, despite huge, are pretty close nearby. The city is pretty tiny in area, so the venues are not spaced by lots of parking lot.

Hey, I suggest you should make this into a series like "Street Redesigning" One major street I wish that can be re-designed is Third Avenue in NYC as I live one block away and its a 7 lane car paradise with small sidewalks. Thank you and I really love your videos I've learned a lot throughout watching yours (City Beautiful), NotJustBikes, RMTransit and CityNerd's channel! True inspirations!

Seattle and Boston put their major roadways underground within the city. It would be interesting to make most of the lanes underground and only a few lanes above ground for local traffic.

One thing the strip does do good. Keep pedestrian off the road. All roads and access is blocked. You use the sidewalks and overpasses.

I just got back from a first-time trip there and had SO many similar thoughts!! This was perfect timing.

My insight from staying there was, most cars on the strip are either through traffic or taxis. this could points to re-routing though traffic entirely and enabling a massive reduction in car lanes. Maybe using an actual tunnel (not the boring one) to get the majority of traffic off the surface level might work

las vegas is literally perfect for light rail forget BRT. its gotta be one of the largest cities if not the largest city in the developed world with no rail transit, particularly a city built for tourists who all fly in. youd really only need 1 line with a branch or two and that monorail is laughable

Great video! Its also important to note that Las Vegas may soon finally get high speed rail with a station right on the strip! (Brightline West)

I think there's a reason Fremont is becoming so popular, it's just so much more walkable.

Why not convert two of those 12 (!) lanes into tram lines? One for each direction. Except for initial building speed&cost it's clearly better than busses. A small tram has at least 150 capacity, which is a bit more than a large bus. But you can make them MUCH longer if necessary. Assuming we just do those 150 and do that every 2 minutes we already have a capacity of 54k every 12 hours. If we do 220 it would be almost 80k.

6:22 I wish you used other BRT terminal like Bundaran HI's terminal in Jakarta. Because any bus terminal which uses pedestrian bridge is just plain stupid and ugly. ITDP's research on pedestrian crossings concluded that pedestrian crossings are more dangerous, longer to walk, waste people time & energy, expensive, and imo ugly as hell. For those who are wondering how pedestrian bridges are more dangerous, it's pretty simple. Since there's no more conflict in roads, drivers drive faster, which leads to more accidents

I give you serious credit walking down the strip to gather all that footage, must've been a pain.

I'm glad u mentioned that a center running BRT would ease life for pedestrians. Grade separation in rapid transit systems is a respectable goal, and probably an eventual necessity, but is very expensive, and building out your initial rapid transit network on street level is a really easy way to transform stroads into smthn more pedestrian friendly

They could add street cars and call the "strip cars". Many streets have them in the center!

Atlantic City is a good city in the United States to compare Las Vegas too. Atlantic City is also a more walkable city and all of it is on the beach too!

For using an example in Macau, Estrada do Istmo (commonly called Cotai Strip) is more suitable. As style is close to Vegas Strip only large casino resorts stand along the Strip, not like Avenida da Amizable mixed with hotels and apartments (like downtown Vegas). While bus is a main public transit and both avenues are main stems in Macau, bus is an easy access to get both locations.

@City Beautiful - I do want to call out that in Macau, most of the newer Casinos are in Cotai, near the Venetian Macau. That area is all reclaimed land and has much "wider" streets, because the Avanida in Our Lady Fantima (old district up north) is saturated and crowded.

Monorail... monorail... monorail.

I think your missing that a lot of the pedestrian flows go straight through the casinos so you can walk pretty far and comfortably, mostly inside while seeing all the sights and sounds inside each resort

I love this kind of video! I’d love to see this kind of analysis done on Pittsburgh. I feel there is a lot of potential there

I love this! And as someone who has spent lots of time on the Vegas strip, your description is dead on. The only thing this video is lacking is some 3d visualization of what it could be! Give me a shout! It's what I do. :D

I hope future generations of Northern Americans (U.S., Canada) won't live in a car centric horror thanks to people like you! Greetings from Poland, EU.