Surprise heavy turnout jams up speedway traffic

Jace Radke

Thursday, Oct. 2, 2003 | 9:45 a.m.

A lack of communication and a larger-than-expected crowd taking advantage of discounted tickets made for a traffic nightmare Saturday night as race fans tried to make their way to and from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Nevada Highway Patrol troopers were dispatched to the speedway Saturday night to help direct traffic for the Las Vegas 350, as an estimated crowd of 60,000 headed for the Craftsman Truck Series race, but it was already too late to control the traffic.

Traffic on Interstate 15 was clogged back to Craig Road before the race, and an accident that forced cars to merge into one lane to get on southbound I-15 snarled traffic after the race.

"We just called in as many troopers as we could and did the best we could," NHP Lt. Steve Cabralis said. "I guess only about 10,000 people were anticipated, but for whatever reason there were a lot more tickets out there and they didn't plan on ending up with this situation."

Tickets for the race sold for $30 and $39, but blocks of tickets were reportedly sold off to casinos and were then given away or sold for $5 or less.

Chris Powell, speedway general manager, said he was pleasantly surprised by the turnout.

"When you do deeply discounted tickets, you're almost guaranteed that a very small percentage of them are going to show up," Powell said.

That guarantee didn't hold true this year as the discounted tickets transformed the truck race from an event that normally draws between 10,000 and 20,000 fans to a large-scale event. Traffic control plans are required for large events, but because Saturday's crowd was not expected by the speedway, the NHP and the Nevada Department of Transportation were not consulted, officials with the agencies said.

The speedway generally contracts with the NHP to handle traffic for its larger events, such as March's annual NASCAR race.

Powell said he didn't think it was a mistake not to contract with the NHP for Saturday's race.

"We'll review this race as we do with all the races here, and make the needed improvements," Powell said. "Whether we'll contract out with law enforcement for traffic control I don't know, but we'll make the needed improvements."

Speedway officials met with the NHP, NDOT and Clark County officials Wednesday to continue planning for March's race, which draws more than 130,000 fans. That number could increase this year with an added 15,000 seats expected to bring the speedway's capacity to more than 120,000 for March's race.

Powell said that traffic flow at the speedway, which can be reached via Las Vegas Boulevard or I-15, has improved considerably since 1999's NASCAR race.

"We had more people than we thought we were going to have (Saturday) but it was a very successful event ... and the traffic delays that some people encountered Saturday night are the norm at many of these facilities," Powell said. "Fortunately, we've got Las Vegas Motor Speedway's traffic situation to the point where this is not the norm."

More than 30 NHP officers are generally stationed at the speedway for the annual NASCAR race, and work a 15-hour shift to ensure that everyone gets in and out of the race. The troopers are all off-duty so that the race does not interfere with regular duties, and the speedway pays the troopers' salaries, Cabralis said.