During the past several decades, commercial and residential development has moved to new suburban areas and master planned communities on the fringes of Las Vegas. As a result, a decline of the Downtown core has occurred. Downtown Las Vegas has long served as the hub of the Valley and has a rich legacy of business, commerce, entertainment, and culture. This legacy would be at risk unless the City developed a plan to implement transportation infrastructure and address the needs of the downtown core.

Over the past several years the City of Las Vegas has taken significant steps towards planning and implementing multi-modal transportation projects centered about the newly constructed Bonneville Transit Center. The Las Vegas City Council has adopted important measures to advance plans and projects that include transit, bicycle and pedestrian facilities. The main goal of these actions is to make Downtown Las Vegas more livable, sustainable and inviting. Roadway, transit, bicycle and pedestrian facilities are being planned and implemented to maximize mobility in the area.

In April 2009, the City Council adopted an updated Transportation Element that called for more walkable neighborhoods and complete streets to accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists and public transit. This plan provides incentives for developers to design sustainable mixed-use projects that reduce reliance on cars and increase the economic vitality of the area. More recently in March 2011 the City Council adopted the Unified Development Code which is the latest zoning code used to guide development. One of the more noteworthy items that came out of the new code was the development of Complete Streets Standards. These new standards are being implemented on new development and redevelopment projects throughout the city.

A major goal of the City is to develop the Downtown area where alternative modes of transportation (transit, bicycles and pedestrians) can safely coexist and share the roads with automobiles. Mobility through the Downtown is being improved by providing widened sidewalks with street trees, reflective green bicycle lanes and enhanced transit service. The City has actively pursued federal (FHWA & FTA) and local funding sources to accomplish this goal.

Community Mobility Study for Central Las Vegas will also be discussed. The Regional Transportation Commission, in cooperation with the City of Las Vegas, has initiated the Community Mobility Study for Central Las Vegas. The purpose of this study is to improve pedestrian and bicycle mobility in and around Central Las Vegas by identifying gaps and alternative transportation mode routes and improvements that can better link residents of Central Las Vegas to the new Bonneville Transit Center (BTC) and the surrounding neighborhoods, commercial and community centers. The study area encompasses approximately 28 square miles within a three (3) mile radius from the BTC. With 511 miles of roadway, along with 26,304 residential dwelling units and 165,130 employees in three different jurisdictions, the study area includes a diverse mix of demographics, land use and development patterns. This presentation will explore the innovative GIS analysis tools and techniques employed in the study to identify and quantify boundaries to mobility. These techniques include the use of the Network Analyst extension of ArcGIS to perform a series of analyses using the actual pedestrian and bicycle network. These analyses include shortest path routing, highest utilization routing, and proximity based routing to strategically identity mobility improvements.

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Instructors:

Randy Fultz

Randy Carroll

(13 Ratings)