Concerts, conventions, and sporting events, oh my! With a city like Las Vegas, which is now the indisputable Entertainment and Sports capital of the world, moving people in a safe and orderly fashion is crucial when numerous, sometimes concurrent, events are taking place.
While many big cities deal with transportation issues for the occasional big event, Las Vegas must plan for this year-round. To put it into perspective, Las Vegas hosts the equivalent of a Super Bowl every weekend and last year, there were only two weekends without major events that required road closures and transit route detours!
When you’re the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC), which oversees the local transit system and serves as the regional traffic manager, dealing with the traffic surrounding these many events is a major undertaking that takes a tremendous amount of preparation. The RTC traffic management team, along with local and state municipalities and law enforcement, created a dedicated special events group. The group meets regularly and gathers information on upcoming traffic disruptions, possible detours, and necessary communications to ensure the public is informed.
Last year alone, the special events group assisted with traffic management during 325 events including major sporting events at Allegiant Stadium and T-Mobile Arena, large concerts such as Taylor Swift which attracted more than 100,000 attendees, festivals such as the Electric Daisy Carnival that saw 190,000 partygoers daily, parades including the Stanley Cup Celebration which attracted 200,000 spectators, and more! The RTC also offers the Game Day Express and just last season, the service provided more than 155,000 rides for customers going to 60 Las Vegas Raiders and Vegas Golden Knights home games.
Our planning efforts, coordination, and communication have proven to be successful, and we plan to use these many tools as we welcome the Las Vegas Grand Prix Formula 1 race and the 2024 Super Bowl in the coming months. The RTC and other organizations hope to learn even more lessons while supporting the economic growth these events bring to our great city.
