The Bizarre Planning of the Las Vegas Monorail

There's a monorail on the Las Vegas Strip. Well, kinda. It's actually behind the casinos and hotels that line the famous strip. This piece from Metropolis explains how it got there and why it's not so good.

1 minute read

December 20, 2009, 5:00 AM PST

By Nate Berg


"When I arrived in Las Vegas, the Strip looked much as it did on my previous trip. Pedestrians still swarmed on the sidewalks, gawking at all the gimcracks and gewgaws; traffic was still dense and slow moving. But the thing I expected to see zipping high above Las Vegas Boulevard, on a single rail supported by a series of massive pylons, wasn't there. Maybe, I thought, Las Vegas hadn't actually built a monorail. Then, on an early-morning run along the Strip, I began to notice signs for it. But except for one conspicuous neon-ringed entryway located between Harrah's and the Imperial Palace, it seemed like the monorail was the only discreet thing in an otherwise indiscreet town."

The article looks at the planning history of the monorail, its original good intentions, and the political maneuverings that led to its current form.

Thursday, December 17, 2009 in Metropolis

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