Friday, Feb. 3, 2006 | 12:30 p.m.
Monorail officials agreed to move ahead on plans to extend the monorail to McCarran International Airport and resorts on the west side of the Strip.
Construction on the $1.3 billion plan could begin as soon as next year and triple the length of the existing system. Monorail President Curtis Myles said Thursday he is optimistic that the new system could be operational by 2010.
"I started looking at this on the first day I was on the job," said Myles, who took over in July.
He said after talking with Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury and Regional Transportation Commission General Manager Jacob Snow about the monorail's expansion, "we reached the conclusion that connecting to the airport and serving the west side of the Strip was the best way to go."
While those have long been part of the RTC's plans, Myles wanted to move on the project so it could be incorporated into several planned resorts.
While Myles stressed that rights of way have not been negotiated and there are still a number of issues ahead, he is encouraged by the support he has received from resort companies.
"(MGM Mirage Chief Executive) Terry Lanni has been a longtime supporter of the monorail and that has been a real plus," Myles said.
Monorail officials have met with executives of MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment to begin planning. Those companies control most of the hotel rooms the proposed extension would pass by.
"We look at it as a really good thing for the community for the monorail to reach its full potential, and that means serving the west side of the Strip as well as the airport," MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said.
"Anybody who has traveled up and down the Strip or on Frank Sinatra Drive during rush hour knows that if we can remove any number of cars off those roads, whether they're tourists going to the airport or employees coming to work, it will be positive."
The new construction would include eight miles of new track, 14 or 15 new stations and a second maintenance facility. Myles estimated the cost at $500 million for the airport extension and $800 million for the westside track.
Under Myles' proposal, the south end of the new line would begin at McCarran's planned Terminal 3 off Russell Road. With a stop or spur at the main terminal, the route would go north on Swenson Street to the Thomas & Mack Center, then west on Harmon Avenue, passing the Hard Rock Hotel and the proposed W and Las Ramblas projects.
The route then would head south on Koval Lane and either link with the existing station at the MGM Grand or go south to Reno Avenue.
The track would then turn west to the Strip. The company proposes running the track between the Luxor and Excalibur hotels, then north on Frank Sinatra behind New York-New York, Monte Carlo and Bellagio.
That's also near the site of MGM Mirage's Project CityCenter - a massive $6 billion development that is expected to generate at least 25,000 trips a day when completed.
North of CityCenter, the track would run alongside Caesars Palace, the Mirage, Treasure Island and the Fashion Show mall.
At that point, the track would curve east to the Strip, passing near Wynn Las Vegas.
Myles said he has met with Boyd Gaming officials about running the track farther north near the proposed Echelon Place development, but the company said current plans don't include a monorail right-of-way. Still, Myles said the monorail company would probably put in a switch at that point and could eventually continue north.
East of Wynn Las Vegas and the proposed Encore megaresort there, the track would hook up with the existing line near the Las Vegas Convention Center station or at an existing switch track near the Las Vegas Hilton.
Myles admitted he has a number of challenges to get the system operating by 2010 when Terminal 3 opens. CityCenter is due to open in 2009.
Financing may be the biggest issue, Myles said.
The four-mile $650 million system was financed by state-issued bonds, and the line's early operational problems didn't help the system's credibility. The monorail was shut down for several months in its early stages when parts fell off the train while it was operating. No one was hurt in the incidents.
Monorail ridership has lagged well below original estimates, and its bond rating was downgraded.
A downtown extension from the Sahara Hotel station had been contemplated as the next phase, but the project was killed when federal officials, citing low ridership, denied funding.
Monorail executives believe that the systems's true potential can be reached by connecting to McCarran and its 44 million passengers as well as the west side of the Strip.
"I look at those things as things that happened that we can't do anything about now," Myles said. "I'm more interested in the future and moving forward."
Myles said he has already been contacted by several private investors about financing the construction and wants to avoid using government bonds or public debt to finance the project.
"There's a lot of interest out there" from private investors, Myles said. He said an airport extension could generate ridership and money, noting that 80 percent of the people who get off planes at McCarran go to the Strip.
He said studies on route alignment and revenue and ridership would be done by early March and they will "help determine if we're in the ballpark."
Richard N. Velotta can be reached at 259-4061 or at [email protected].
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