Lady Las Vegas is a "can do" place. Throw a problem at her and she'll find a new and creative way to deal with it. Whenever someone says it can't be done or it is impossible, the Lady answers "Bring it on!"
Where else does an entire industry change gears and re-tool in less than 10 years? Moving from commonplace gaming venues to theme resorts, Disney couldn't even imagine! Where else is the entertainment mystique so powerful that rock stars, boxing greats, and opera legends hold "farewell" performances even as their contemporaries re-launch their careers with "comeback tours"? Where else do snooty chefs open satellite restaurants that become more highly rated than their signature namesakes? AND where else does a community take an amusement park ride, update it to be 21st century public transportation, privately fund it, and make it the cornerstone of a regional public transportation system? Only in Las Vegas. 

Bob Broadbent, longtime Southern Nevada transportation guru and Chairman of Las Vegas Monorail, smiles as he reminisces about how the whole Monorail idea originated and started to grow. "In 1993 they opened the MGM Grand Hotel, the largest hotel in the world. Bob Maxey was Chairman then and he wondered how he was going to get people from the busiest corner on the Strip at Flamingo and Las Vegas Boulevard to his property a mile south at Tropicana. He was flying out of McCarran International Airport one day and the plane went over the Strip. He realized that all the property between the MGM and Bally's was privately owned. So he approached Arthur Goldberg, Chairman of Park Place Entertainment who owned Bally's, with an idea. Why not connect the two properties with a people mover? Goldberg liked it. Bally's was in bankruptcy at the time and the idea of the people mover which could increase foot traffic through the hotel sounded promising."

The next step was to decide just how to do it. Disneyland had been using a Monorail for years and people loved to ride it. The futuristic system would be perfect for Las Vegas, and Disney World was in the process of selling off its older, refurbished cars. So the decision was made and the first leg of the Monorail was built. 

During its first year, the Monorail moved more than four million people and Bally's emerged from bankruptcy. The hotel not only survived, but the new Monorail system presently under construction will literally go through the building in the area where jai alai games were played when the hotel first opened.

With the success of the Bally's-MGM route, Goldberg began looking at extending the line to the Las Vegas Hilton, another Park Place property. The Hilton is located on Paradise Road east of the Strip and was not getting foot traffic like its neighbors. Taking the Monorail to the Hilton could change that. However, it was not going to be easy. To reach the Hilton the Monorail would have to cross public property, which meant that governmental agencies would be involved. 

Since the project would no longer be a completely private venture, it was necessary to set-up a structure that would hold the franchise for the right-of-way and be responsible for operations. Legislation needed to be passed to allow the formation of the non-profit, quasi-governmental entity, which could hold the franchise and operate the system. Ultimately, all the hurdles were met and the Las Vegas Monorail company was formed. Today LVM has a board of directors appointed by the Governor and is managed by Transit Systems Management.

Todd Walker, spokesman for Transit Systems Management, explained: "The county told us the only way we would get right-of-way was to open the Monorail up to the general public, not just the guests of the various hotels, and let all the hotels be involved who wished to be involved. Also, the Monorail itself had to meet safety standards for public transportation. In short, it needed to be changed from an amusement park ride to a full-blown public transportation system.

"The county also indicated it would not use eminent domain to obtain right-of-way and that it was MGM/Bally's job to pull all the elements together. So the MGM and Hilton went out and purchased the right-of-ways needed and got proposals to design, build and operate the system. That was back in '97-98." 

MGM/Bally's also looked into ways of paying for the system. The hotels didn't want to be responsible for the entire cost and the county made it clear it would not raise taxes to subsidize the project. So they turned to Wall Street to develop a way to fund the $650 million needed for construction. 

Working with Solomon Smith Barney and others, they put together a three-tiered financing program that included the sale of $450 million in insured AAA bonds to be paid back through revenues generated by fares and advertising. The remaining cost of construction would be covered by uninsured bonds and subordinated debt carried by the hotel and the design/build/operate team. 

While the private sector was pulling together the means of building the Monorail to serve the guests in the hotels, the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) was looking at the overall traffic problems throughout the Las Vegas Valley. 

The RTC identified the Resort Corridor as the geographic center and the economic focal point of the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Corridor is a 36 square mile zone encompassing much of Downtown Las Vegas, the Strip, UNLV, McCarran International Airport, government centers, entertainment complexes, shopping malls, two major hospitals, dozens of small businesses and numerous residential neighborhoods. It is estimated that by 2020 more than 147,000 people will live in the Corridor and 404,000 persons will work there. 

Studies also found that more than 1.5 million vehicle trips to, from, or across the Resort Corridor are made every day and that the number will increase to more than 4.5 million by 2020. This projection does not include an estimated one million visitor trips per year or traffic related to hosting an estimated 46 million tourists per year. 

When transportation experts at the RTC looked at the problem, they realized that conventional methods of moving people would not be sufficient to address the situation. It would take 20 additional east-west arterials and 18 north-south ones to accommodate the increased roadway traffic. Moving pedestrians would be equally daunting. It was projected that buses would have to depart at 30-second intervals along routes, resulting in a virtual head-to-tail procession up and down the Strip. 

With that kind of reality looming in the future, RTC planners recognized the need to find ways to maintain the present level of mobility within the Corridor while working to reduce drivers' dependency on single-occupant vehicles. 

Their strategy is to develop an integrated/intermodal transportation system. County Commissioner and RTC Chairman Bruce Woodbury explained at a recent transportation convention in Las Vegas that the RTC's vision is to link transportation systems throughout the Valley into "a seamless transfer system" consisting of bus routes, park-and-ride lots, and alternative systems including light rail and bifurcated diesel-electric buses, which resemble rail cars on tires. The Monorail is one part of that system.

Fred Ohene, Project Manager for the RTC's portion of the Monorail project, explained that the RTC's primary goal is to move people not only for pleasure but also to their jobs. "The Fremont Street Station of the Monorail will be just a block from the Downtown Transportation Center. People can ride the bus to the center and then take the Monorail to their jobs along the Strip. The RTC is also looking at private funding options to relieve the burden on taxpayers, and we hope to keep the public contribution to the project to a maximum of 30 percent which we may be able to fund through the federal government," Ohene said.

Ridership studies already completed indicate that 20 million people a year will ride the first segment slated to be completed in January 2004. Ticket prices for the southern leg of the Monorail are expected to run about $2.50 a ride. Hotel guests will be able to use their room keys as tickets and workers and others who ride the system regularly will be able to purchase passes. 

As the support columns rise along roadways and down the center of Las Vegas streets, excitement over the project grows. There have been naysayers, as always, but those supporting the futuristic transportation system feel it's just what Las Vegas needs--a mix of transportation and entertainment. Where else but Las Vegas would a community bring together the elements to make a fully transit grade system feel like an amusement park ride? Only in Las Vegas.

Susan A. Santarcangelo is Business Development Manager for Terracon, Consulting Engineers and Scientists, a Geotechnical enginee-ring company. She has been a contributing writer to Las Vegan Magazine since 1998.