Vehicle count tops 1 million in May

Monday, July 10, 2000 | 2:40 a.m.

Visitors continue to flow into southern Nevada as the vehicle count at the California border topped 1 million in May for the second straight month.

With an average of 2.8 passengers per vehicle, more than 3 million travelers passed through the Primm Highway Stations' coverage area on Interstate 15, the Nevada Transportation Department reported.

The I-15 count increased 1.6 percent for the month. Year-to-date traffic is up 3.3 percent, the department reported.

Despite a record number of visitors, northbound traffic headed into Las Vegas for the Memorial Day weekend was down 5 percent from last year. Southbound traffic headed home after the holiday May 28-29 was off 8 percent.

For the other three weekends, northbound traffic May 5-6 was up 4 percent; down 9 percent on May 12-13; and up 4 percent May 19-20.

No data were available for I-15 north of Las Vegas because of construction at Mesquite, the May traffic report said. At the agricultural inspection station at Yermo, Calif., which measures southbound traffic only, total counts for May were even with last year.

By vehicle type, auto traffic was down 2 percent, truck traffic was up 15 percent, buses were down 15 percent and recreational vehicles were down 20 percent.

Statistics coming from Yermo are rounded estimates and are not as accurate as the magnetic counters at Primm, the Highway Stations report noted.

Traffic into Laughlin, as measured on U.S. Highway 95 at Searchlight and on Davis Dam Road, was even with last year. Laughlin did well on Memorial Day weekend, with inbound traffic May 26-27 up 7 percent and outbound traffic May 28-29 up 13 percent.