High hopes for downtown riding on new transit center

Las Vegas Valley leaders predicted Monday a new transit hub will not only help resuscitate the economy in downtown Las Vegas but also persuade commuters to abandon their vehicles for public transportation.

"If you look at what's happened in downtown the last 10 years, there has been a tremendous renaissance," Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown said. "This facility will continue that renaissance."

The Bonneville Transit Center, a state-of-the-art terminal, is scheduled to open in July at the corner of Bonneville Avenue and Casino Center Boulevard.

The 21,000-square-foot facility will serve as the central hub for the Regional Transportation Commission's ACE bus services.

The ACE gold line will connect downtown to the Strip and the Convention Center, the green line will link downtown to Henderson via Boulder Highway, and the ACExpress C line will offer service from the northwest valley's Centennial into downtown.

The $17 million transit center was partly funded with federal stimulus dollars. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said she earmarked $8 million for the project before $5.5 million became available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The rest was funded by grants.

The transit center is the third transportation project funded by stimulus money. The Regional Transportation Commission used the funding to build the Centennial Hills park-and-ride facility and to install the Boulder Highway green line route.

"This noise represents jobs, jobs, jobs," Berkley said, referring to the heavy machinery grading downtown property. "This project is a shining example of what earmarks can do for an entire community."

Once the center is complete and the buses are moving, the next challenge might be persuading commuters to exit their vehicles and give public transportation a go.

"In order to get that person to even try, it (public transportation) has to be different than anyplace else they've ever been," Brown said.

The buses will use high-occupancy vehicle lanes to zip past rush hour traffic, and the new transit center will cater to bicyclists. Jacob Snow, general manager of the commission, said buses carry 60,000 bikes a month, more than the system in Portland, Ore., which he described as the bicycle capital of the world. One hundred storage spaces will be provided for bikes, and the facility will offer an on-site, self-service repair shop.

Brown predicted the area surrounding the Bonneville terminal will grow.

"We've never had the grand slam, a CityCenter or Bellagio, but we've had tremendous incremental growth downtown," Brown said. "This should further spur development."

Contact reporter Adrienne Packer at apacker@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.