Banning Cars from the Vegas Strip: Stupid or Brilliant?
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- čas přidán 31. 01. 2023
- It's time we took one of America's most visited streets and made it car-free. The Las Vegas Boulevard resort corridor brings in over 100,000 new tourists every single day, and over half of them walk as a primary form of travel while they're in town -- yet the street is designed to streamline car travel, with the pedestrian environment a distant afterthought.
This video explores the question: what if we prohibited car travel on the Strip, and used the extremely wide right-of-way for a people-centered use, like linear parks, new development down the center, or pop-up uses? Join me today as I give you my closing thoughts on Las Vegas before I move on to my next destination.
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Previous CityNerd Videos Referenced:
- Simulated Urbanism: • In Search of Car-Free ...
- All About Pedestrian Bridges: • Pedestrian Overcrossin...
- Heinous Land Uses: Lifestyle Centers: • What Makes Lifestyle C...
- International Airport Transit Connections: • World's Best Airports ...
Also check out RMTransit's video on high capacity transit for Las Vegas: • Designing a Rapid Tran...
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Resources:
- Vegas visitor common modes of travel: www.rtcsnv.com/govegas/resour...
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Images
- "Riviera Hotel By EditorASC at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
www.airlinesafety.com/editoria..."
- Vegas Strip 1970s By André Corboz - iconoteca.arc.usi.ch/it/inven..., CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
- Dunes and Aladdin from Flickr user Roadsidepictures www.flickr.com/photos/roadsid...
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
- Las Vegas Strip 1978 from Flickr user Roadsidepictures
www.flickr.com/photos/roadsid...
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- Las Vegas Strip 1980s from Flickr user Roadsidepictures
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- Mid 1960s Strip Aerial View Postcard by Flickr user Brian www.flickr.com/photos/retrola...
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
- Retro Stardust by Flickr user Brian
www.flickr.com/photos/retrola...
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
- Shinkansen Video by 魔理沙 from Pixabay
- Las Vegas NYE By Arnie Papp - www.flickr.com/photos/apapp/4..., CC BY 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
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I’m gonna hazard a guess that a car free Las Vegas boulevard would in fact be way better.
I think it would. It might help folks realize how much nicer this sort of environment and it’s possible to do where they live.
no mabye a reducded car but in vegas access to uber is such a life saver probably wouldve literaly died while i was there if not for uber
During the Covid shutdown local families were bicycling down the empty Strip.
I disagree, normally I'm all for walking, but Las Vegas's climate makes that impractical. You're telling me you want to walk half a mile or more dragging suitcases in 110 degree heat!? I'd much rather do that in 20 degree weather.
@Quantum Passport The point is that people in Las Vegas and out would be able to walk around the strip without needing to drive around Nobody cares about their cars all they want to do is stay in hotels and gamble.
The only way you'd be able to convince the casinos to reduce their access by making it car free, is to convince them we can put shops in the middle of the street to make them more money. They may not care about urbanism, but they'd care if there was a bunch of new real estate with great transit access right outside their front door for them to put some overpriced restaurant on.
There are a lot of people that walk up and down the strip. While it would limit car access somewhat, they'd just create a different entrance (if they don't already have one). It would double the access to pedestrians, though. Plenty of spots are a pretty long walk just to get to the same spot in the other side of the street. Those blocks are biiig. So being able to just pop back and forth across the road whenever and wherever would be brilliant for foot traffic. Also, I'd guess that, just like Houston's highways, it would increase the amount of people that actually walk up and down the strip, now with easier access to everything (and likely some amount of pop-up shops and such that could fill some spaces).
I don't think you'd need to do much convincing. If you look, most of the larger resorts have rather large areas in the front of their properties dedicated to handling car traffic. Those areas could all be repurposed and rebuilt into more casino space or more mixed use areas with shopping, dining, etc. Check out the entrance to Caesar's Palace to see what I mean. The road to get cars from Las Vegas Blvd. to the parking garage in the back is wider and longer than the street I live on.
And I live in Vegas and work on the strip.
I didn't see your comment before mine. Yeah, like if you gave the right of way over to the casinos, and they could rent those spaces out to shops or something. I think that is the only way you'd get them on your side.
I imagine light rail or streetcars would bring a higher density of people to each casino, especially if it stops at each one!
Yeah, I imagine the way they think is, they don't want competition across the street, let alone in the middle of the street. It's really short-sighted, though -- more interesting destinations and more variety bring higher demand. Grow the pie!
A Clark County Commissioner has actually proposed closing the Strip to vehicles between Tropicana and Sahara. It is being studied locally and may actually be coming sooner than you think.
Oh I know -- I think I mentioned Commissioner Segerblom in a previous video! Just need to get a few others on board
@@CityNerd I'm on board! I've written to Tick and offered to do whatever it is I can do to help. I'd like to see extended sidewalks, bus lanes down the center (similar to downtown) and dedicated bike and/or scooter lanes adjacent to the bus lanes. And hydration stations every 100 yards or so.
@@CityNerd how do locals get involved?
That would be awesome! But they would need to create some public transportation even it is a simple and frequent bus shuttle between Tropicana and Sahara. And improve significantly the public transportation access from the airport.
God I hope not. That will be the end of me visiting Vegas.
There are so many people working and spending time in and around LVB, it just makes sense to make it a place for people first. Hopefully the insanity of things like that intersection near the Bellagio eventually disappear!
@@kevinjosephzaragoza7879 i think theres a lot to reply to but i think the old adage “If you build it they will come” applies here and is something not being taken into consideration in your reply
@@kevinjosephzaragoza7879 "...but I personally feel that money pedestrianized the strip could be much better spent in other parts of the city..." - However, this may not be the case. This is due to the strip being a huge source of funding for the city. Investing in money making resources - (like the LVB in this situation) - in order to raise money for making the non trusted areas is aligned with a cornerstone principle of economics and budgeting. That being using your assets to improve the things you want to improve, but first improving your assets. So I personally think that focusing on improving tourist infrastructure is still heavily important as that's the resource this city needs most in order to fund the other parts. Also the city could stand to not waste as much money on resurfacing that road constantly.
@@kevinjosephzaragoza7879 I'd say that the secondary effects of pedestrianizing the Strip would also benefit the rest of the city. It has the potential to take half the cars in the area off the streets, which leaves more room for the locals. Creating a pedestrian zone that contains most of the tourists would also incentivize pedestrian infrastructure in other nearby areas, to draw tourists over there, which could also benefit the locals.
Yeah and when big events are over it would be a logistical nightmare if everyone had to catch a bus and/or train
Do you not understand that everything is a delicate balance and if you take one thing out of the system everything else begins to fail if Covid didn’t teach us anything it should’ve taught us that🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️
Appreciate that today's RMTransit and CityNerd videos are the most low key collab you'll ever see on CZcams.
Imagine if they join forces with Oh the Urbanity 🤯
Gotta love the urbanism CZcams community. A few year ago I thought I was crazy for hating places where you have to drive, today I know there are millions who share the same feeling!
@@loveself55 I know for a fact that all the Canadian urbanist CZcamsrs (Not Just Bikes, RMTransit, Oh The Urbanity!, Shifter, Paige Saunders, Uytae from About Here, etc.) All know and regularly interact with each other, as well as with other "international" CZcamsrs (Urban Jersey Guy being a good example). So it's definitely possible!
It was very low key, but it was definitely collaborative
Thank you for mentioning the important fact that what we think is Las Vegas isn't actually in Las Vegas. Because it's the reason these resorts are the way they are. Paradise was founded in 1950 because Vegas's mayor tried to annex the Strip, but casino executives didn't want to pay taxes to the city, so they lobbied commissioners for Paradise to become a town. In 1975, the state government itself tried to absorb Paradise into the city (alongside Winchester and Sunrise Manor) but this was shot down by the state's supreme court as unconstitutional.
And a reason it's so peopley is because of Steve Wynn, he was the one that felt it shouldn't be just a gambling destination but an entertainment destination. He started the megaresort movement by demolishing the Castaways casino in favor of the almighty Mirage. He would also proceed to turn the Mirage's parking lot into another resort and name it Treasure Island. He would later demolish the Dunes in a spectacular way, and the beautiful Bellagio was born. After MGM bought these resorts, Wynn would form Wynn Resorts and opened Wynn in 2005 and Encore in 2008.
I just wanna know why the Welcome to Las Vegas sign is down by the pinball museum. Why do we never talk about this
vegas gonna be like moraco in 2023 it's called F1 VEGAS
Yes, and he raised the price of EVERYTHING. All the corporate takeover of the Strip did was make everything much more expensive. Vegas used to be fun. Now it's just one big hole to pour money down.
@@DANKSAGE420 Yeah, NV is spending a fortune on BS sports. But we have one of the worst educational systems and "healthcare" systems in the country. Living here is hell.
@@do9138 Is the healthcare really that bad? And how so?
The first time I visited Vegas a few years back, they had closed the road down for a marathon and it was a much nicer experience than the next day when road traffic returned. It's definitely an area that would benefit from removing car traffic, similar to the tourist area around Hollywood Blvd in LA that could probably benefit from the same
Yea, I was there at a Marathon and you could walk the road after the runners finished. Kind of cool
When a city center gets *better* for pedestrians during marathon day, you know there's something badly wrong with the way things are usually run.
Oh yeah, Hollywood Blvd is another good one. Pedestrian demand that just overwhelms vehicular traffic at times.
I think a little less lanes will do the job too
Nah bro, one more lane bro
I am not convinced just having less lanes would change anything. There would still be too many cars interfering with the pedestrian traffic. Another quick fix would be to transform it like the 16 street in Denver. Mostly pedestrian with very frequent shuttle bus service.
as of today, 6 north/south routes along the strip corridor are under some kind of lane closure every weeknight at same time. 1 lane closed already chokes traffic. when everything is open, or just half of those are not restricted traffic for the most part does flow decent. so your concept of one less lane, already exists and it is an epic fail. meanwhile people have to drive 3 miles out of the way to avoid it, expanding that precious carbon footprint people love crying about so much.
A proper transit line running up the center would be amazing. Kiosks could be dotted along with daiquiri bars , souvenir shops, and other retail. Perhaps a set up like the container park could coexist. Along the intersecting blvds taxi pull offs could be installed as well as food truck spots to show off local vendors. Maybe we could see rickshaws hauling guests between resorts. Bike rental kiosks might be interesting as well. Local art installations could dot the landscape as well.
instead they built a tunnel for tesla...
@@Lorre982 instead they should build a rail from harry reid to downtown.
@@timk1480 we all know 97% of the USA don't understand the concept of pubblic/mass transport
I would visit that version of Las Vegas! ❤️
It's funny, Vegas has all these things (a million daiquiri stands, a container park, etc.) but center strip would be perfect for them. It could be the world's foremost cornhole/beer pong tournament venue
For years now, Chicago has shut down the drive (du Sable Lake Shore drive) to car traffic so anyone who cared to could ride their bike for a few hours on the drive. It really is quite amazing. It's called "some sponsor" Bike the Drive.
To clarify, it's traditionally been the Sunday before Memorial Day. It's pretty cool, but it's one day of the year.
@@mrmacross true. I didn't make it clear enough. It is a magical time though.
@@jackieknits61 It is fantastic. Never did it (too cheap to pay the fee; the free lake shore path is good enough for me), but I love the concept.
Philly does it every weekend and it is very popular. I would think Chicago expands theirs going forward.
There have to be people in the bureaucracy who are thinking, jeez, why don't we do this all the time? Maybe even electeds. Someone needs to say it, though.
I was genuinely surprised at how walkable Las Vegas actually is. I guess it turns out private businesses can figure out the value of walkability.
Maybe the strip and arts district area but anywhere else, you’re gonna need a car
This video does it all for me. It’s about Vegas, city planning and making places more walkable. All things I love!
There are dozens of us!
Happy to check those boxes!
I want to add to the "marginally watchable" CZcams videos comment. You actually do a great job with pacing. Being a teacher is like being a performer; you have to balance text, audio, and visuals appropriately to encourage engagement. You do a lovely job.
Seconding this. I love the CityNerd presentation style! Always a treat to watch
I love the commitment to the cadence and format of the videos. You know what kind of video you're in for and you know you're going to learn something. They're also a good length
That's lovely for you to say, but I maintain that everything about my operation is marginally worthwhile
its the most important of YT traits to have. Forget the subject matter, pace is so important. Most YT'ers fail miserably at this.
A nice example of what you could do might be something like Pg de Sant Joan in Barcelona. It is 45.5m (150ft) wide, so slightly narrower than the strip. There's one bus lane, one car lane, and one cycle lane in each direction, and a linear park in the middle.
That sounds like a lovely street
my thought also. Not sure Americans are up for this change..
@@dianayount2122 in Mesa, Arizona, in the early 2010s, Main Street in downtown got a bit of a road diet. When the light rail was being extended from Sycamore/Main Street to Mesa Drive/Main Street, Main Street in downtown had to have 1 lane of car traffic in each direction removed to make way for tram tracks. The street now has 1 lane of car traffic with sharrows, 1 lane of parallel parking, and 1 tram track each direction, and it’s around 120-130ft wide. Mesa was founded by Mormons, so the block sizes are huge, and the city is still dominated by Republicans, though the city’s support of urbanism is probably an anomaly.
That is sort of what I was thinking. Have *some* car support, but most people would walk or take a bus (or tram). There’s plenty of width there for all of those uses, and landscaping to boot. It does seem strange that there are so many car lanes when (a) there are many parallel roads, including an interstate highway, and (b) there are so many pedestrians that special bridges exist for their use (I never minded the bridges when I was there-they meant I didn’t have to wait for the light, and wasn’t in danger of being hit by a car-but having few/no cars and not needing them would be better)
Oh, that is a good recommendation!
I'm part of the 1% that takes the bus from Harry Reid airport. The CX runs straight from the airport to downtown for $2. It's a deal.
For transit, they need a subway system from airport to downtown, with a spur from MGM to Mandalay/Allegiant/Brightline, get private cars off LVB (taxis/buses/limos only), and double the width of the sidewalks. Boom, done. Once you're near Sahara, you can pop back up above grade and go up S.Main above grade, station at the south end of the Arts District, Bonnevile Transit center (with a foot bridge to the N.Outlets), and a final station at the Plaza (where the Greyhound stn was).
The Boring Company is already building a subterranean system that will cover the whole way from the airport to downtown. The first section is already in operation. I'm kind of amazed that no one in this thread seems to be aware of it.
@@alanlight7740 LOL. Go and watch any of the debunking videos on "The Loop" including CityNerd's. It can barely handle the convention traffic just around the convention center, and it's huge labor intensive requiring 60 drivers just for the LVCC.
No one, except the Elon Musk fanboys take it seriously, and I expect the LVCC will be more than happy to put a proper people mover in the Boring tunnels once Musk defaults on the project (on which he's losing a fair chunk of change operating it)
@@Boffin55 - the Convention Center Loop is a separate entity from the Las Vegas Loop that is now being built, the review videos show that people love it and it's working very well, and it's not even fully operational yet. It's still in the experimental stage. Ultimately it will not require _any_ drivers.
The "debunking" videos demonstrate such ignorance that they're unintentionally hilarious.
Unfortunately several resorts have their main car access through facing The Strip (the Aria, the Bellagio are two I can think of).
So even when taxis/Ubers take the side streets, you need Strip access to reach your final destination.
I’d still make the Vegas Strip more pedestrian friendly and mostly car fee by taking at the very least one lane from each side to widen the sidewalks and the middle island.
If they could add trams even better.
Yeah, there are certain resorts that draw more of their access from the Strip than others for sure. What I'm suggesting is a tougher change for some resorts than others, no doubt
@@CityNerd But not impossible to accomplish. Some resorts are almost constantly worked on and updated
I like it the way it is. When I'm checking out from the casino. I get up 6:00 in the morning go get gas drive up-and-down the strip it's completely empty. You can really get a good look at all the casinos.
@@1990758 I’m sorry but but not everyone likes to wake up early on what likely is their vacation
@@dishinthetruth8146 Exactly but for me most of all the jobs that I've had to be to work 6 or 7:00 in the morning. I've been going to Las Vegas since 1990 driving. It's my choice to get up at 6 AM and put gas in the car. I'm not the type of person that can sleep in. I get up 530 every morning whether I go to work or not. Is waiting in long lines to pump gas on the way home no thank you.
I had an idea. Since the channel is now too big to do sub count checks with stadiums anymore, what if you did sub count checks using cities with populations comparable to your subscriber base? It could be a good trojan horse for highlighting good/bad land use, transit, walkability, etc. You're probably within a few weeks of passing the population of Dayton, Ohio, my former home city.
Was not expecting a Belgian mention in a video about Vegas. Come to Antwerp. We have decent urbanism, one of the most interesting and contraversial urban highway projects on the planet, and I'll buy you a beer
I visited Antwerp a few years ago on a 1800 km solo cycling tour of The Netherlands/Flanders. Really enjoyed Antwerp. :)
I really, really, REALLY like Belgium. What's the highway project?
I lived in Den Haag and Antwerp was my favorite weekend excursion.
I'm heading to Antwerp later this February and am so excited, your city looks gorgeous. I can't wait to visit the fashion museum.
@@CityNerd It is called the "Oosterweelverbinding" or "Eastern wheel connection." The idea is to connect the ring highway around Antwerp, which is currently almost entirely on the Eastern shore of our river/estuary. The problem with the highway is that it is basically a massive bottleneck for freight coming out of the port of Antwerp headed south, as well as much of the goods traffic from further north. So the idea is to build a new tunnel under the river in the northwest, where the ring is currently cut off, which will in theory, allow for traffic coming from the north towards the southwest to divert entirely on the West bank of the river, which is vastly less developed compared to the East bank. With that also comes a massive reworking of the existing ring on the East bank, where they are replacing a horrible 60s viaduct with a trench designed to hopefully eventually get covered. The Highway basically slices the city center off from the near suburbs, so they are also floating the idea of maybe covering the entire thing and building a huge circumferential park, but considering the project as it is has already been delayed and delayed and also is hugely expensive, that seems optimistic (though it would be absolutely amazing).
Project has been being investigated/planned/attempted since the late 90s, and only started major works a few years back. It's been hugely controversial to get it off the ground for all the reasons you might expect (why spend this much money on a highway, what are the environmental problems, etc) but it does seem within a decade now the project will be up and running more or less. It is super cool from an engineering point of view, but I for one, think better investment in freight rail (which is currently super underutilized coming from the port) would have been a much better way to help the ring. You look out at any given time and the traffic is like 90% trucks.
The dutch language Wikipedia article is super thorough and an interesting read with lots of nice pictures.
I've seen videos of cities that made a section of town walk only, and the general population fights it tooth and nail. And when they get used to it, it's the greatest thing that ever happened.
The Vegas Strip is one of the worst examples of valuable space wasted for cars.
Great video! Every time I go to Vegas I think what a waste it is that they can’t utilize that iconic boulevard for anything other than unsightly through traffic
I do wonder if anyone's actually surveyed this scientifically. I'm convinced half the traffic is either just advertising stuff, or it's tourists cruising/sightseeing, or taxis/ridehails deadheading. Just a massive waste
Ray, you've got a bit of audio buzzing in this one. Not sure if it's a video issue or a CZcams issue, but it is definitely there.
Problem is at the source. Nebula version sounds the same.
Did you see Safiya Nygard's video where she walked from casino to casino and boy howdy was it a comment on how even a tourist district has a few spots where the design wants you to get hit by a car. Contrast that with the monorail and the hotel to hotel connections.
The lack of shade over the pedestrian areas struck me, especially since the local climate seems so hot and sunny, I was a teensy bit worried for them. Even reasonable distances can be too much in these circumstances, I understand why people would avoid going out as much as possible in these conditions.
Here in cities with narrower streets and buildings which border the pavement, you typically always have shade on at least one side of the street, and in larger streets there might be trees to provide some shade to the pedestrians, the streets that do not provide at least some shade tend to be deserted by pedestrians in the summer, because nobody wants to walk there if they do not have to.
Maybe it's me who hates the heat and direct sunlight a little too much and perhaps the locals are used to the weather, but for a place with this many tourists which may come from colder areas, I do think a little shade would do some good.
It's crazy how even on a road that prioritizes cars, walking is still by far the most efficient method of transposition.
Nope
@Joe Botz dude, go and count the number of pedestrians who visits any given Casio vs the number of cars who park in the parking lot over the same period of time. I think we both know where most of the people will be coming from...
I know, right? It definitely is.
I recently had a long layover in Vegas and wanted to get to the strip using public transport. It took me about and hour and a half. I consider myself fluent in reading transit systems but the bus system was confusing. Crazy for the #1 tourist attraction in the world
Good luck riding the buses here with all of the sketchy characters on them.
Orlando also has a horrible transit network, even though their main industry is tourism. In sane countries like Singapore and Japan, big theme parks get their own train station.
Uber is the most efficient way. Never take a taxi, and those $10 shuttles hit every resort along the strip so you could be waiting awhile and only be saving a few bucks.
The taxi cab authority had a lot of power back in the day. They shut down or made it really difficult to get in and out of the airport. Cab drivers would always long haul you as well and still do.
@@The_Savage_Wombat The last time I took a cab to the airport he drove around Allegiant stadium twice like I wouldn't notice what he was doing. I was too hungover to argue but ended up paying like $50. Cab drivers are scumbags everywhere though.
I'm from Buenos Aires, Argentina. When our team won the World Cup last december, a busy avenue near me called Cabildo became a de facto pedestrian way for people to come out and celebrate, aside from an occasional bus or ambulance that had to make it's way through the crowd. A tunnel that's used to cross under a railway, normally reserved for cars and buses only, was for the first time since I remember open to foot traffic. It was a surreal experience to traverse that place on foot.
Speaking of Sport's victory parades. I went to the Women's world cup parade in New York 4 years ago and it was incredible. I dabbed in front of Alex Morgan.
Great video!
I couldn’t help but notice that your mic seems to be buzzing like a slightly muffled/broken mic at certain points. It’s noticeable at 10:03, and a few times before and after. Kinda like talking through a kazoo.
I thought I had ruined my speakers for a second 😭 but it's just this video. Mic quality has been worse for a few videos I think? Not sure what happened.
yes, quite noticable around 2:45 aswell
gosh i lived in vegas from middle school to college and i avoided the strip as much as physically possible due to the poor pedestrian experience. all of my relatives loved going there and i always dreaded it
Spoken like a local
Las Vegas has plenty of challenges - water is scarce and only getting scarcer, the economy is highly dependent on a single industry, and economic inequality is profoundly out of control.
But there is also enormous opportunity. People here are incredibly passionate, and they don't shy away from change. Las Vegas is always reinventing itself to better appeal to the people who come to visit. If we keep championing human centered spaces, we can make that vision a central part of its next transformation... and then maybe we can expand that vision out from Paradise to benefit the people who live in the city it pretends to be a part of.
"Traffic sewer" I like that. A 'stroad' more or less still a functional viaduct ... a 'traffic sewer' is just a mess.
Having the strip turned into a walkway, but being able to convert to an F1 track occasionally, would make me enjoy that city so much more!
Public transit to Las Vegas Motorspeedway is a plus also
That is a cool idea. What if you turned one roadway into a multimodal path for trams/BRT and bikes and pedestrians and scooters with shop frontage, and then keep the other roadway as a Grand Prix street circuit/one way-scenic drive. Something about standing up through the limo sunroof or the double-decker bus with the piano bar up top cruising the Strip that seems worth preserving.
Maybe one day a year they can let regular people drive on it. It can be like a bizarro ciclovia
@@CityNerd Another good Spain-related analogy for this yearly strip cruise/car day/urban racetrack could be something more anachronistic like the running of the bulls. F1 street circuits and bull runs might have similarly poor spectator safety records compared to other sporting events after all.
It would also be good for the F1 racing experience too! As having no cars and trucks running on it constantly means the track surface would be a lot smoother.
Thanks - you certainly convinced me! I would though build the elevated metro advocated by Reece Martin in his recent RMtransit video.
They could even make it Vegas-style. Add multi-coloured LED lighting all around the outside. Large panoramic windows to take in the view of the Strip. Make people want to ride it as an attraction, not just transportation.
Holy crap. I would have never guessed that the car traffic from socal to Vegas was anything close to 50k per day. No wonder Brightline wants to build there next. If they can capture a fifth of that traffic, they’ll be richer than Croesus
The local newspaper reports it as "Brightline officials expect to capture 22 percent of the traveler market share when fully operational. That would take 3 million vehicles off the road over a year’s time". 3 million is probably rounded down or up, but evenly distributed over a year that's 37k/day. No doubt on some days the number is way higher, while lower on other days. Note that Brightline West still hasn't finalized financing after 2+ years of trying. If it's a slam dunk business case there must be safer and better cases that money is flowing to instead of Brightline.
Among other factors (primarily right-of-way issues with two different state DOTs) tt is somewhat dependent on the success of CAHSR because they could be highly complimentary. Brightline proposes three different access patterns to SoCal, they could all be employed eventually: new Cajon tracks directly to Rancho Cucamonga, Victorville terminal/connection to existing trackage, or connecting with future CAHSR in Palmdale. Getting financing in place to just sit around while the political process makes it allowable is risky. With permissions in place getting financing beyond letters of intent together becomes more feasible.
Bi-directional trams, biking paths, and parks / shopping areas. Done. Dramatically more pleasant for visitors and even more commercial value.
Car free Las Vegas Blvd during new years is awesome. The only problem is the properties are so large and spread out that it makes it a really long walk to some places
I been in Vegas since 2001 and I can honestly say we need this. The potential for the resorts to expand further into actual street we call The Strip makes sense. We can add Parks, street art, etc..it sort of sounds like The Fremont Experience haha. The city is always evolving and I hope one day they at least the resort owners and the county officials look into this. Thanks for this video 👍
"Live every day like it's taco tuesday?" I really expected a cheesecake day, lol.
As someone who was born and raised in Las Vegas, I always avoided the strip. In 2020 when everything was shut down, there were almost no cars on the blvd. So many locals were free to walk down and it was amazing to see the road used for cyclists. Ever since then I’ve been advocating for LVB to be car free. It was amazing to see how many people were excited to go on the strip without the worry of traffic
I did some plans for Vegas just over 10-years ago. Here are things that would work to close it to cars, or at least get it to just one lane. 1) Designate districts where a parking tax is imposed. Even if casinos grumble, make it happen anyway. As long as it affects them all equally, they won't feel it. 2) If free parking is still needed, create it as "periphery parking" closer to I-15 and west of I-15 where it's easier to get to, then run shuttle buses every 5-minutes. 3) Use more efficient "Alternative Intersections" and one-way streets to manage some of the backways. This alone can handle a lot more cars parallel to the strip. 4) Yes! As you said, transit directly on the strip: Street cars, light rail, monorail, or Denver 16th Street Mall buses. As long as they connect to the airport, anything will work. 5) Yes, some kind of transit from CA that is either faster and/or cheaper than driving (this is partly where a parking tax will help).
one can argue that vehicle traffic is less today than 10 years ago, when hotels were charging for parking people started noticing the cost factor isnt worth it
im not for any taxes, as its theft for the government.
I'd love to see more places going car free. Power to the people!
Power to the people and a very big thanks!
Let's put light Rail on Las Vegas and place it in the middle lane.
Re: taking the bus from the airport: It's not great. The Deuce only gets as far as SSST, so you need to take 109 from the airport and then switch buses. There's also the CX which will drop you off in front of New York New York, but otherwise does not go up LV boulevard and runs only once per hour 🙄
Just looked this up and seems like the CX actually stops at Caesars Palace now instead. Still 1 bus per hour though!
I’m watching your channel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where many cities are facing similar struggles with car dependency
They should build a subway line under Las Vegas Blvd, with its northernmost station a mile north of Fremont St., and its southernmost station a mile south of the airport. There would also be a station inside the airport. Along the line, have one station every half mile. Tourist demand for taxis would sharply drop, and even the rental car business would take a hit, which would reduce the amount of traffic and partly solve the problem you've brought up.
Underground pedestrian walkways connecting the west and east sides of Las Vegas Blvd to the subway tunnel underneath it could also be used by people to cross the street without walking through traffic topside.
Your concluding examples are super compelling!
A video about the first car-free development in the US called Culdesac in Arizona would be cool. I just watched a presentation about it and honestly it looks great.
And it's an absolute failure
@@joebotz1243 Why?
@@joebotz1243 In what manner? You can't just make a statement like that without providing a valid explanation to back it up.
@@joebotz1243 yeah, how exactly?
That's an interesting celebration outfit with the angel's wings at 12:44
"Car sewer" is the best description for the strip that I've ever heard.
I lived in Las Vegas in the late 70s, my parents and brother lived there at least 2 decades. We ALL hated to do any driving on the Strip! It was a nightmare just trying to make a turn. I've long wondered why it wasn't pedestrian only, or pedestrian and trolleys. I live in Colorado now and when I worked downtown, my workplace was right on the 16th Street Mall. It was lovely to head for work early sometimes to grab a trolley to shop or eat at the places along the mall.
Great recommendations. But there is already a street in Vegas completely closed to traffic and only used for walking: Fremont Street! This is my favorite place to be when I go to Vegas. Lots of casinos and restaurants all close together and easy to walk back and forth in between. You also have some very interesting people watching and street performers and the zip line above. Pretty much every night is a street party with up to 3 live bands all playing at the same time outside. The strip is very overrated and the mega resorts are designed to keep you trapped in their maze. They don't want to improve foot traffic because then you might be encouraged to leave their property and spend money elsewhere.
Yeah, you could do Fremont Street to the tenth power. Imagine how killer than zipline would be, just launch it from the Strat tower and land it at Mandalay Bay
The biggest opponent will be the casinos. They only think in terms of first-order effects. In this case, “We’re not interested in anyone creating an environment where people want to be away from us. We want them in our resort at all times.” What they fail to realize is that a more relaxing and more complete vacation draws more repeat business, and people who have time to recharge are going to be more engaged customers when they return to the resort. Trapping a person in a resort does not by necessity make them a good customer.
As a local, I think it'd be great, especially with local and LA rail. I'm not sure what the solution to cross traffic would be. No one wants to drive across the Strip but having to go out of your way to Sunset or Charleston would be even worse.
Thats a good thing the more anoyed the drivers the better.
Can I just say I think these "unincorporated areas" adjacent to towns and cities are a big problem. Most of them are more or less leeching off the infrastructure and jobs of their nearby towns, but they seem to be almost universally built entirely as completely car-dependent, fully suburbanized, wealthy enclaves with below-expected tax assessments that lead them to be a drain on regional finances. Obviously The Strip is an atypical scenario, but coming from New England, where the only unincorporated areas are completely rural, typically quite poor, very small population (often >1,000), and very far away from the denser areas of the region, the number of unincorporated areas around my new home of Beaverton, OR that are clearly just mooching off the better-planned, more job-dense, more financially-sound cities and towns in the area is incredibly aggravating.
"Paradise" was originally attempted to be annexed by Las Vegas back when the casinos were first getting going, but the county and casinos worked together to block it to have 1 less layer of government to pay taxes too. Paradise is litterally a tax dodge, and it seems that at the very least the financial burdern of upkeep of all the infrastructure.
But as someone from NY state which has 0 unincorporated land, its very weird that a subsection of a city can exist unincorporated. Its like if Yonkers just didn't have a municipality and NYC picked up all their municipal services without being able to collect taxes from Yonkers to pay for those services. (all land is officially incorporated into a township, including the most rural parts of the Adirondacks and Catskills). And according to Wikipedia this is an anomaly with only MA, CT, RI, NJ, and NY being fully incorporated and NH, VT, and PA being almost entirely incorporated. (With unincorporated meaning the county is the lowest teir of government)
@@jasonreed7522 I had no idea this was so extensive a problem. I moved to Oregon from southern New Hampshire, and it seems like almost half the land around where I live here is unincorporated. Little things like this just make me loathe this place that much more, one of numerous niche issues that no one not interested in urbanism would even notice which nonetheless has a huge impact on how our economy operates.
Most of Floridas major metro areas are unincorporated
even from the flip side, that is, "pro car", people enjoy driving the most, when there's the fewest people doing so. i hear all the time from my cousin's and extended family, that they love when it's late at night, no one's around, they have room to breathe on the road, and they can do whatever they want without traffic. so trying to limit car's, not only help's people who want to be car free, it also improves the experience's of those still driving.
Driving is definitely the most enjoyable when you have the road to yourself. When i have long drives I'm only happy when I'm off the interstate and onto minor roads. (Not that crowded city streets are any more comfortable than the interstate)
Note: My driving experience is confined to New England and Upstate NY.
Good one... I love the old pictures at the start... thanks for the videos....
I never understood why the US would want the most valuable land in their cities to be half covered by ground parking lots, a fifth to be stroads and the rest to be buildings. I would have thought they'd want to maximise their land usage and have the central areas of their cities to be walking, biking, taxis, public transport and deliveries only, with hugely expensive parking lots on the side streets to discourage drivers, and public transport that goes everywhere possible. Like the rest of the 1st world countries are doing it. Because that makes sense. Cities are destinations, not somewhere you drive though to get somewhere else. Highways should be going around the central districts of cities, not through them.
I think the biggest problem facing this proposal is the Vegas midsummer heat, which is typically at or over 100 degrees F, and occasionally in the 120 range. No matter how well hydrated and appropriately dressed you are, that's a stifling heat to walk in.
Somehow Morocco maintains one of the most walkable cities in the world while being in the Sahara desert
Exactly. Driving the strip is much better.
@@JoseGonzalez-il8zh I’m sure you drive across the street too.
@@joenuts5167 those cities on the coast are much colder lol
time to make the air train run everywhere
You just gave me an idea for my Vegas themed city in Cities Skylines , thank you
Bruh
Came here to say this 🤣 Especially with the remastered update coming out!
@@kaitlynaddison4129 only on next gen consoles
@@Skibidy_rizzler_ that’s correct 😁
Yes, IF there are underground or elevated transit routes such as trams and personal rapid transit systems. Along with better car accessibility on the edges of the hotels.
If you had more roundabouts and underpasses on the boulevard, you can reduce the gridlock, shrink the number of lanes for pedestrians. However what you fill in to replace the asphalt completely? Kiosks? Entertainment? Gardens?
Perfect! I LOVE RUNNING THE STRIP! especially winter months!!!!!!!!!!!
I was in Vegas this new year and they blocked off cars from entering the strip, making it full of people. Getting an Uber back that night was a pain in the ass but the strip looked absolutely gorgeous that day, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
How does Las Vegas handle homelessness? I never see homeless camps in videos of LV.
They camp on the sky bridges, I've seen thousands of homeless. Everyone's looking up at the lights, if they looked down they wouldn't be so thrilled. Also I've seen security in casinos dealing with/fust fighting more homeless in the past year then the previous decade.
they dont, they let the vagrants sleep in the bushes, busses, sidewalks, etc all up and down the strip. and if we have public transit, they will beg for a day long ticket and stink it up all day too
@@arliss7132 facts, they have taken over the strip in so many ways, and metro is utterly useless.
Great video!! That’s all. Really well done!
I said it in the last video and I gotta say it again - whatever camera you are using to film yourself is awesome! Love how crisp the image is
Even losing just one lane, bro, on each side of Las Vegas Boulevard would be such an improvement, with virtually zero downsides. It's already a traffic jam as it currently is, dropping a lane each way won't change that for long, as people adjust. With how many L.A. area people drive to the strip, maybe some super luxury buses back and forth are warranted.
What's really amazing is that that many people drive from LA, and there are like a million flights a day into LAS from the various LA-area airports. It's all just so dumb
@@CityNerd I'm SLC area, the last time I went to Vegas four years ago I did drive the six hours. If I ever go to Vegas again without also road tripping nature things on the way, I'll probably just fly and catch some transit or taxi to the strip.
LA to Vegas seems like the most consistently "vacation traffic" interstate highway in the country. I can't think of worse.
@@CityNerd Well hopefully soon Brightline West will start construction. I bet that will help a lot.
as of this posting, 6 north south roads have one lane reduction along the resort corridor at the same time, every weeknight. trust me, one lane reduced creates problems as it is. reduce the number of useless vehicles instead (rolling billboards for example), and plan projects better.
@@CityNerd not everyone likes flying. or they want their car to leave the strip to go to redrock or a hike or go elsewhere. many come to visit family or friends too. flying is not always convenient or desired.
Regarding walking in Las Vegas, I once took a taxi just to get to the other side of Las Vegas Boulevard. One of my nephews got married at the Bellagio. My wife, daughter, and I were staying directly across Las Vegas Boulevard at the Paris. We walked to the Bellagio with my daughter on my shoulders. We had to walk one block north to a pedestrian overpass. My wife was in high heels and was irritated that I didn't drive. During the reception, my wife commented to one of the staff about the walk. The lady replied that nobody walks in Las Vegas. She said we should take a taxi on our way back, which is what we did.
There are apparently vending machines in Vegas that sell flip-flops for all the women who think they'll walk in high heels. I never saw one but I wasn't looking that closely however the blister care sections of cvs, target, etc on the strip are generally a little bare.
I find that I don't do well in extreme heat, so while I generally like to walk, not in that heat. I might rethink that if there were significantly less heat generating, pollutant spewing metal boxes around trying to kill me.
I live in Vegas and that walk from Paris to Bellagio is nothing. But the again it’s those damn heel.
I remember when I visited a friend from back home when she was staying in Vegas with family, and we walked from the Clarion on Flamingo Rd all the way to the Harrah's to go to Kerry's Gourmet Burgers and back, and she was in high heels. Her feet were so sore, I had to go fetch ice in the liner bag for her when we got back and we were talking in her room.
Well that was stupid, there is a crosswalk going from the south side of the Paris driveway right over to the Bellagio driveway.
Beautiful and witty. You're still getting better and better.
Just a heads up Amtrak is reinstating the former Desert Wind passenger train between L.A. CA. and Denver, CO. a new station is being built in Las Vegas, NV. this new station is being setup to handle two long distance Amtrak trains, Brightline west trains, LV Monorail, and Amtrak motor coach busses. Time frame is first Amtrak train is set for September 2023. test trains starting in June and July. the new LV Amtrak depot will also host to Private railcars.
I can't help but feel like LVB Light Rail could be run privately at a profit or under some shady Chicago-Style parking meter lease arrangement, and converting the strip to transit only (and I dunno just handing over the ROW to the casinos?) would be Worth It tm. Traffic is like life - it will find a way.
You neglected to mention the re-invention of Fremont Street - the casinos on City of Las Vegas "old" downtown, which turned itself into a car-free pedestrian mall.
its also less than a half mile long and everything is tightly packed. the strip is far reaching masses of land and huge footprints and is 4 miles from one end to the other. its like comparing a scooter to a 18 wheeler
I like how casino owners just want whatever gives them more money. They aren't ideologically attached to cars.
As someone who visits Vegas once a year, I’d love a car free strip. More room to walk around on those busy nights, more places to set up cheap stands, maybe even more places for people to do some acts, like you get on Fremont street. It would really be fun. But, they would need to have some sort of rail system underground for those who need to move around quicker. It would be a bit of work, but I think it would improve the experience.
Intriguing video, and heartfelt, too! I also wonder about all the land behind the hotels taken up by parking garages. I would think there would be more productive uses for that land. But then, I've never been able to understand how Vegas treats land value.
Yeah, I didn't even get into that! Imagine all the development opportunities that would be freed up by not having to store tens of thousands of cars every day.
The strip casinos probably wouldn't go for that. As for car free areas of Vegas, you forgot about Fremont Street, which does a decent job for being car free. For how congested Las Vegas Boulevard is, the casinos all banded together and did pretty well, by building all the bridges and escalators over most of those intersections years ago.
They closed it during the covid lockdowns, in fact, all of the tourist attractions were dark as well. So many photographers went out to take sky photos with iconic buildings in view.
Yeah, I've seen those photos! Ghostly stuff
The very first time I visited Vegas was in the middle of Covid, summer of 2020. It was crazy having the Strip be mostly ghost-town, but I still enjoyed myself so much that I moved here in '21.
@@davedixon2167 yeah, this music video that was shot in vegas at the time relly showes it Five Finger Death Punch - A Little Bit Off czcams.com/video/Ve3fcInpKj0/video.html
the strip road was not closed to traffic.
On Friday night, I-15 from the Los Angeles area into Las Vegas is packed. A trip that at other times would take four hours can take six or more hours. On Sunday night all that traffic heads back to SoCal. If there is an accident along the way I hope you have food, water, and a port-o-potty. There are lots of semi- trucks. Between Barstow and the Nevada border the speed limit is 70 mph but many drivers are doing 95, a good recipe for crashes.
Take a look at the transformation of Fremont St that went from cars to car free. It was wildly successful. I am a vegas local. Also the boring company transportation system with 51 stops will help decrease traffic.
you cannot compare half a mile to 4 miles though....plus the distance from the street to the resort entrance for the hotels set back (bellagio, mirage for example)
I remember trying to go to a shop in the strip and having no idea whatsoever how to get there. There was no way to walk there, and there didn't seem to be a way to drive there without paying a valet to park my car. It was atrocious.
When already looking at Av de Stalingrad in Brussels, I recommend checking out the transformation of the parallel Bd Anspach. It used to be all car lanes and now is a wide linear park from Place Fontainas to Place de Brouckère with huge plazas where there used to large intersections. Brussels is still bad in many places, but they did a good job there I find.
When he began zooming in on Brussels, I was pretty sure that's what he was going to show, I didn't expect the Stalingrad containers! Now I'm wondering if he doesn't know about Bd Anspach and he just happened to miss one of Brussels' most striking pedestrianization projects of the last 20 years by a couple of meters, or he does know about it and it just wasn't the point. After all, it's Av de Stalingrad he stayed at, and it makes the point that you don't need massive resources to improve a street.
I’d think getting rid of thru car traffic would be a good idea. I’d also think you’d still need some sort of transit and access for a lot of the properties.
*Really had a good chuckle with the non suggestion of trains for moving lots of people along a linear route. Classic City Nerd
I like the fact of cars, not being able to drive down the street and making it fully walkable, but I didn’t see any benches. A truly walkable street for all ages needs to have places for people to rest and then start walking again. This is good for the very young and a very old and for people with disabilities.
Better. Oh, and install a tram line as well.
Loved RM Transit's video on a Vegas metro. An elevated metro running down the middle of a pedestrianised strip would be amazing!
I can attest to that. Went to LV in 2008, by car (it was a tourism trip with multiple stop).
We never used our car in LV. Sidewalk ou the boulevard were crowded, and very joyfull.
I'm french, and used to walk. Blocks are huge though. Going from the bellagio to circus circus was somewhat a chore. Going back with a taxi felt ridiculously short, and inadequate (we didn't knew if the monorail would deserve our trip back).
As you said in your previous video, a mass transit straight line, alongside a pedestrian only strip, would be perfect.
Thanks for the video, as always!
I went to Vegas in Nov 2021 for a music festival and man was I disappointed. People make Vegas seem like it’s some incredible place that never sleeps. As soon as the festival was over we walk out and the place is dead. The strip is dead no one walking around do anything besides people leaving the festival.
I end up running into some peoples from London and they said “you yanks are boring. If you aren’t in a casino this place sucks.” And I honestly couldn’t disagree.
It took me 45 minutes to walk from Aria to Caesar’s Palace, 2 resorts over, that’s insane. If the strip was a walkway with rapid transit underneath would be so incredibly transformative
You can tram / walk indoors practically the whole way. Transit under or over the Strip is a no-brainer though
I saw (what I thought to be) really positive results come out of NYC doing this
The Cheesecake Factory gag should become a weekly game, sort of like Where’s Waldo. (I got it at 2:55)
As a 44 year resident of Las Vegas who has worked in many casinos on the Strip I can say with great confidence that eliminating vehicular traffic forever would be insanity. Insanity. End of story.
Citynerd, I’d like to see a video on ways to fix existing sprawl. A lot of people talk about how big of an issue it is, but nobody offers solutions to fix the damage that we’ve already caused.
Sure they do. Strong towns has a whole thing about it. I think you have to read it though. They make some long form video content, and Not Just Bikes does some collabs to turn their written content into CZcams videos, but most of their stuff is print.
The answer is basically to build public transit into existing suburbs and improve existing transit to reasonable headways, kill R1 zoning in favor of R2 or R3, permit urban infill, and eliminate setback and minimum parking requirements. If you do those things areas tend to take care of themselves. The housing density goes up, corner stores and cafes pop up in existing neighborhoods, ashphalt oceans in front of strip malls and big box stores become developed pedestrian malls…
@@tylerbrown4483 good ol’ strong towns. i just wish more cities would follow their advice.
Take away the cars. Build a 2-way trolly so the drunks and old people can move up and down quickly. And put a bunch of food trucks/ weed trucks / and outside slot machines and everyone wins!
I lived in LV for a year in 2012 in The Ogden downtown! Really enjoying getting to see these urbanist takes on the city :)
Haha, I got the Ogden into my parking garages video! I love downtown.
PBS recently aired a new documentary about the construction of the new London Super Tunnel which was recently completed. Quite an awesome documentary btw. If anyplace could put an underground below the strip to downtown, LV has the money to do it. A car free walkable green tree lined strip would be too awesome, especially during the 6 months it is so unbearably hot. As it is, I would love to see more pedestrian bridges at more intersections there to relieve the bottleneck.
Yeah it certainly would make getting around easier. All those stairs for the pedestrian bridges are a pain plus the elevator are out often which is a problem for those with disabilities. They still however need the bus system on the strip, vegas is much too warm to walk 3 miles. 🤣
I studied “pedestrian malls” In planning grad school, specifically why almost everyone of them failed miserably.
The big question is what the strip would look like on an average Tuesday. If it would have long periods where it’s nearly vacant then removing cars would be a disaster.
Definitely need a tram/light rail running down the center.
Right now try to get GPS maps (Google, Apple, etc) to give users directions that avoid the strip. That way drivers in rentals from the airport can can another route.
There’s a lot of room between what exists today and total ban. Shrinking the car footprint might be as good as a total ban.
All of austras pedestrian streets ar full all the time even at night when everything is closed at night and the strip does no have that probblem.
Banning cars on the strip without providing alternative means from the airport/LA will just shift the problem to the back streets the locals currently use.
The Boring Company's Las Vegas Loop is already under construction and is slated to connect the airport, strip, and downtown areas. It allows people to keep their cars while separating vehicular and pedestrian traffic, allowing both to coexist peacefully. It's also especially useful in Vegas where the taxi companies have objected to trains because it might cut into their business - but they will be able to get a piece of the action with the Loop system. The first leg, connecting a hotel to the convention center, is already in use.
removal of not for hire vehilces could be an option, and bans on rolling billboards would greatly reduce traffic as they do 10mph at the most. also the cops not parking in the street just to park in the street blocking a lane would help too. (trust me, they arent on a call and theres places for them to park)
I’m shocked the casinos dont get into the condos as well. Offering employees lower cost living, easier access to work, and so on. It keeps the community a lot closer and keeps all of the money downtown.
Say you pay your employees $25/$35hr but the live, eat, experience all at your locations…. You’re getting back a large portion of that money. Also the increased density means more people passing through.
We can also implement wayyyy more public transit. The busses her kind of suck. We have no rails downtown, and so on.
The strips a hassle, there’s a reason locals all go to Fremont. They could honestly turn the strip into Fremont allowing street performers. This would drastically improve the income of them performers consolidating people as well.
For sure way better, the coolest thing about the cities in Europe were the areas just mobbed with people, shops, food stands with plenty of room for everyone, seating, etc. Italy was the best for stuff like this.
A lot of the walk-in entrances are through shopping malls and restaurant areas and not directly from the outside to the casino lobby itself (only the car drop-off gets you close to that) so there's been times I've had to Uber or Taxi just a couple of resorts over cause i didn't want to spend 20min meandering through a shopping mall.
Come on, get in the spirit, show those shopping/restaurant areas some love. If you aren't walking around with a daiquiri that's taller than the average adult human, you're doing Vegas wrong
I have a feeling that is intentional.
I can already imagine it- all lanes removed, widened sidewalks, metro stations along the center, maybe street level trams as well
Berlin regularly shuts down traffic in the "Straße des 17. Juni" ("17th of June Street") for big events. The closed-off portion runs from the Brandenburg Gate to the Victory Column and is about 1.7 kilometers long. In 2006, during the Football World Cup, that closure lasted for six weeks.
I suppose Las Vegas could do something like that. Maybe keep two lanes open for buses and let the casinos set up temporary bistros and stages in some of the area. Add some planters with greenery and you have a nice public area.
Classic CityNerd: "I would suggest that there are more efficient ways to move thousands of people in a straight line."