Thursday, Sept. 12, 2002 | 9:38 a.m.
A new leg of the Las Vegas Beltway, scheduled to open next month, is expected to ease traffic congestion on Interstate 15 and reduce travel time to and from Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the annual NASCAR Winston Cup race weekend.
A segment of the beltway between I-15 and Decatur Boulevard in northwest Las Vegas will give race fans the option of bypassing the inevitable traffic jam on the interstate immediately after a big race, according to LVMS general manager Chris Powell.
"When the checkered flag falls, everybody is leaving at once," Powell said. "That's when this new road is really going to help because it's going to allow for I-15 not to have the volume it has had and, thus, not the backup.
"It's certainly going to help the guy who lives on the west side of town to get to Interstate 15 a lot more quickly, but it's really going to help in the afternoon in clearing traffic off the property."
The new segment of the beltway will connect to I-15 about one mile south of LVMS, between Lamb Road and Speedway Boulevard, and will continue to U.S. 95 in northwest Las Vegas.
Since Speedway Motorsports, Inc., purchased LVMS in 1998, track officials have worked with the Nevada Department of Transportation, the Nevada Highway Patrol, Metro Police and the Regional Transportation Commission on a traffic plan to effectively move more than 40,000 cars in and out of the facility. This year's NASCAR Winston Cup race drew a state-record crowd of more than 140,000.
The addition of five travel lanes on Las Vegas Boulevard from Range Road to the speedway, improved access to the main parking lot off I-15 and dedicated bus lanes have made getting into the facility on race day much easier. Powell said the addition of the new segment of the beltway would allow the speedway to clear the parking lots quicker after a race.
"While we have had little problem in the last two years getting cars in ... the main challenge we have when the Busch race and Cup race are over is everyone is leaving at once," Powell said. "Most people don't care if they can't take the most direct route, they just want to be moving -- and this road will allow for that.
"We had (the parking lots) cleared in about three hours and 10 minutes this past March and I believe with this new segment (of the beltway), I think we'll be able to get under three hours, which is sort of an industry standard. Still, when you've got 140,000 people on one piece of property, were tickled with what we've been able to accomplish."
Powell, who worked for the sports marketing arm of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company prior to joining SMI, said the addition of the beltway option would make LVMS one of the better NASCAR tracks for fans to negotiate on race day.
"In my previous job, I went to every facility (on the Winston Cup circuit)," Powell said. "I'll put our traffic plan and our infrastructure up against anybody's. What was a real challenge when we got here, I think we've turned into a positive."
It also should prove to be an additional selling point to local hotel-casinos, many of which are hesitant to part with their better customers for what can amount to the better part of a day.
"To (the hotels) on the Strip, it's no secret they don't want their high rollers (off the property) for 10 hours," Powell said. "Now we can say to them -- with our dedicated bus lanes and our whole traffic plan -- 'we can have your best players come to the speedway and watch a NASCAR Winston Cup event in a luxury suite and be back at your property in about the same time it takes you to send them off to play 18 holes of golf.'
"And I know we couldn't say that in 1999 when we got here."
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