Date: 8/29/2005 10:54:16 AM Author: artdutra04 Looking at those before-and-after pics, one wonders why so many divided roads in the United States don't have light rail lines or at least dedicated bus lanes running down the middle of them. In a lot of places, the density is certainly there.quote> If you really want to see efficient use of median strips, look at these pictures of the Las Vegas Monorail system. Only a four foot wide median was needed. quote>
I love the Vegas monorail. I think the overroad system is great. I even put of with the construction headaches while it was being built (I lived very near where you took those pictures).
There was an additional plan to extend the system all the way to downtown (The first phase travels from the airport to the convention center with downtown still another couple miles north), but was rejected soon after final projections of riders was given.
Last I heard, the system was losing money. It wasn't really designed as a commuter line, but rather as a transport from the airport to several hotels and the convention center. With a few of the larger conventions having left recently, most notably Comdex, projections of usage have gone down even more.
The other thing I think hurts the Vegas monorail is that it *doesn't* travel along the strip. Which is what most of the tourists want to see! I hope they can do something to improve the system and its usage, but I think that without high usage projections, there is little chance of Vegas expanding the system into other than a failed tourist attraction.
If its one thing Vegas needs its a good mass transit system. There is nothing but roads, freeway, and busses going into the strip/I-15 cooridor which is where a good portion of travelling Vegans work. Even with the freeway expansions they are doing the traffic congestion is projected to be just as bad as it was when they finally decided to do the expansions. Ugh.
Good thing us SimMayors can just whip out our handy-dandy dezone/bulldozer tool and swipe away all those residences and businesses to make room for a brand new spiffy tracked masstransit system! Yippy!
