Light rail on Maryland Parkway won’t help UNLV
Driving by UNLV on Maryland Parkway, I tried to imagine what light rail would do for the university. The plan is to have street-level rather than elevated rails. Will the street cars occupy the center of Maryland Parkway or one side? Or will northbound streetcars be adjacent to east side curbs with southbound streetcars on the west side? No matter how the streetcars are configured, automobile traffic and pedestrian traffic on Maryland Parkway will get worse.
Unless the light rail serves a majority of neighborhoods in the valley, very few students, faculty or staff will use it.
It is clear that the light rail is not being built to serve UNLV. If Maryland Parkway is the only logical route going north from the airport, then it should be buried in a subway running from the airport and surfacing north of Flamingo Road.
Much more discussion is needed.
