EDITORIAL: Ending Strip gridlock

The conversation about how to improve visitor and worker mobility throughout the resort corridor is about to get very real.

With last week's release of an extensive, transformational transportation plan, local government officials, tourism leaders and business executives can openly discuss and prioritize specific projects and, most importantly, how to pay for them.

Amid the release of the plan and its presentation to the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, another National Finals Rodeo was staged at the Thomas & Mack Center. Anyone who enjoyed any part of the rodeo most certainly did not enjoy the traffic. Getting up, down and across the Strip required navigating one jam after another. Parking lots and garages were filled. Valet lines stretched into thoroughfares. Gridlock choked the entire visitor experience.

The report from transit engineering and construction experts with CH2M, 18 months in the works, contains 65 recommendations that will cost between $7 billion and $12 billion. And that estimate doesn't include the biggest of the big-ticket projects: a light-rail line that connects McCarran International Airport, the Strip and downtown. There would be seven new pedestrian bridges over the Strip; new transit centers; a transit line serving Maryland Parkway, UNLV and the airport; and a Las Vegas Monorail extension to Mandalay Bay.

Fare revenue would be expected to cover much of the construction costs while simultaneously paying for operations — something the monorail couldn't do. Paying for the balance of the buildout no doubt will require new money, from taxes or private-sector contributions or both. Local leaders should commit to the development of a funding plan as soon as possible — especially if it requires a public vote in November 2016 or legislative approval in 2017.