Report makes recommendations to relieve pedestrian congestion on Strip

Street performers and vendors should be banned from pedestrian bridges, and county officials should work with resorts to address pedestrian choke points in more than a dozen different places along the Strip, according to a monthslong study commissioned by Clark County officials looking to clean up the state's biggest tourist attraction.

"The data collected in the study shows we have real congestion issues that need to be addressed," County Manager Don Burnette said in a statement.

The report, which studied the movements of more than 4.8 million pedestrians over two weekends, recommends a series of enhancements that would make it easier for tourists to navigate the four-mile stretch of real estate between Russell Road and Sahara Avenue.

Many would cost significant money, while others would be relatively simple fixes, such as ensuring that crosswalks along Las Vegas Boulevard are all painted and marked at least 25 feet in width.

Among the study's recommendations:

■ Make some sidewalks at least 15 feet wide.

■ To prevent pedestrians from walking into the street to see whether a bus is coming, the Regional Transportation Commission should install real-time bus arrival displays on its bus stops along the Strip.

■ Pedestrian bridge escalators and elevators should be maintained more frequently. The study group found one that wasn't working on Memorial Day weekend, causing pedestrians to form a line to walk up the stairs.

■ A few places on the Strip have fences in the median discouraging pedestrians from jaywalking. Those should be expanded along the entire corridor, where possible.

Commissioners have spent the last year working to clean up the Strip and improve the tourist experience.

That includes ridding the corridor of litter, unlicensed vendors and street performers, and they have approved new ordinances targeting those groups.

They already have created new laws banning pets, "dangerous objects" and people who sell water and other items without a license, and they have placed restrictions on pamphleteers.

In April, commissioners approved a $581,000 study identifying areas of pedestrian congestion. Funding for the study comes from room tax proceeds restricted for transportation improvements in the resort corridor. It's the first comprehensive study of pedestrian traffic on the Strip in 18 years.

Commissioner Steve Sisolak, who prompted debate about conditions on the Strip when he walked it last year, said he has only skimmed the study but said he was impressed with what he had seen so far. The 200-page study was released Wednesday.

"I think it's honestly very, very thorough, and it shows where there are some choke points," he said. "This will give us a template or road map" for improvements.

Those improvements could include time and place restrictions targeting street performers and others who make a living peddling their talents or wares along the Strip.

Some of the restricted locations would include:

■ Pedestrian overpasses, and the elevators and escalators around them, because the bridges can't be made wider and they're "an integral part of the pedestrian walkway system," the authors wrote.

■ Bus stops.

■ Construction zones, intersections and driveways, where they already are banned, but enforcement can be lax.

The study also identified 10 choke points and obstructions along the Strip where pedestrian traffic could be improved.

The solutions range from moving fire hydrants on the sidewalk across from Mandalay Bay, to converting grass landscaping near Caesars Palace to sidewalk space, to building a pedestrian bridge between the Bellagio and Planet Hollywood. Some of the recommendations would require the cooperation of the resort operators.

In general, there were several areas of the Strip where congestion created "unacceptable" levels of service.

The busiest area was on the sidewalk at the south end of the Bellagio at 9:30 p.m. on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, one of the busiest weekends on the Strip.

More than 2,600 pedestrians were counted passing by during a 15-minute period.

Other "unacceptable" areas included sidewalks in front of the Harley-Davidson Cafe, The Cosmopolitan, Bally's and Treasure Island.

To count the pedestrians, the study's authors, local company Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc., used police and county cameras in the area and manual counters.

They also calculated average pedestrian speed by having authors time themselves walking in certain areas.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-405-9781.