The Las Vegas Regional Transportation Commission recently revealed a long-term transit plan for the city. Included in the plan are potential improvements for roadways, as well as a proposal for a light rail system that would connect McCarren International Airport with the Vegas Strip and downtown Las Vegas. The traffic in the Las Vegas area is projected to overwhelm the existing roadways, and light rail could potentially alleviate the the congestion facing Vegas’s most popular destinations.
Some people believe the light rail system could be able to utilize federal funding, anywhere “between 29 percent and 46 percent of its cost”. While included in the transit plan, it is still unknown whether the new system would be located above, below, or at street level. So far, according to the transportation commission’s manager Tina Quigley, there “‘seems to be more interest’ in a street level light rail that would go underground where necessary”. Due to this uncertainty, the project’s total cost ranges widely, “from $2.1 billion to $12.5 billion”.
In my opinion, I think the potential for light rail in Las Vegas is interesting and worth at least considering. With any project like this, where the cost gets into multiple billions of dollars, I think the main concern is who ends up paying for it (as is the case in the comment section of the article). As mentioned in the article, federal funding could cover a significant portion of the project’s cost. I also think much of the project’s cost could be recouped through fares, due in large part to Las Vegas’s enormous tourist industry. Linking these three heavily visited destinations in Las Vegas by light rail could serve as the backbone for a more expansive network in the future.
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