When playing at the online casino, enjoy the fact that to make some money, you really don’t have to muscle your way into Vegas, because it's not as easy as it sounds. A few weeks ago authorities spoke of their plan to secure the Strip and turn it into a safe zone with the help of a $3 million surveillance system. So now that a top priority is tourist safety, the simple task of getting those gamblers to their hotels and casinos, is all that is left to do. The problem is, the existing ways of getting in to Vegas can't handle the traffic. Visitors are coming to the area through interstate 15 and from a long-term point of view, this simply won't do, as the interstate has a limited capacity. Regional Transportation Commission General Manager Jacob Snow believes that a heavy rail line bringing in visitors from Southern California and elsewhere might be part of the solution to growing traffic problems.
Local experts agree on the rail issue, but emphasize that the plan must include a renewed Amtrak service and a magnetically levitated passenger line connecting Las Vegas and Southern California, and are hoping the two will significantly relieve congestion along the Strip. They are looking ahead, five years from now, a time when an estimated 25,000 more hotels and casinos will be built together with a possible additional construction of 80,000 condominium units. The growth in residences and places of business mean an increase of 50% over today's 225,000 daily trips.
Since 1970, Las Vegas and the gambling industry have been sustained by growth, now residents are looking at a major population increase which would take them over the 3 million people mark. That being the case, experts are pushing for a sophisticated transit system which will include the heavy rail, which will join an upgraded monorail, the deuce bus system and park and ride parking areas. It is clear that a multimodal approach is needed, and many offers have been made aside from the surveillance system, such as dynamic highway signs, closed-circuit television monitors, advanced traffic-signal monitors and radio detectors to spot volume issues with traffic.
