The NFL draft shut down the Las Vegas Strip to car traffic. Some people liked the change so much that a new law proposes to permanently block cars from the street. Yes, you read that correctly.
Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom is following the lead of the National Football League and proposing a law that would permanently block cars from Las Vegas Boulevard where it passes through the unincorporated part of Clark County known, famously, as the Las Vegas Strip. Commissioner announced the proposed law in a Tweet on April 28.
The National Football League recently shut down the street as part of the festivities surrounding the 2022 Draft. The draft isn’t the only precedent for car-free streets in Las Vegas—Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas (in the actual city of Las Vegas) has been car-free since 1994.
Multiple Fox affiliates picked up the news of the proposed Strip closure, including Fox11 in Los Angeles and Fox5 in Las Vegas. Both articles are short on the details of the proposed law that would close the Las Vegas strip to automobile traffic.
Anyone who has been to Las Vegas knows that the strip is infamously hostile to pedestrians. Las Vegas Boulevard is wide, unsafe for pedestrians and vehicles alike, and oppressively congested. Moreover, the surrounding built environment is designed to keep visitors inside, spending money. The Las Vegas Strip is also the most visited tourist location in the world. A car-free Strip would be perhaps the most complete (symbolic) setback for the car-centric planning status after several years of changes in the public realm.
FULL STORY: Bill would permanently ban vehicle traffic on Las Vegas Strip
Open Street Abandoned in New York
The New York Department of Transportation is changing the way it plans and manages open streets as political support for the concept wavers.
NYC Officials Announce Broadway Pedestrianization Project
Two blocks of the marquee street will become mostly car-free public spaces.
Denver Plans to Make Some Open Streets Permanent
The city is moving to institutionalize segments of streets that were successfully pedestrianized during the pandemic.
Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”
Study: Maui’s Plan to Convert Vacation Rentals to Long-Term Housing Could Cause Nearly $1 Billion Economic Loss
The plan would reduce visitor accommodation by 25% resulting in 1,900 jobs lost.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Wind Energy on the Rise Despite Federal Policy Reversal
The Trump administration is revoking federal support for renewable energy, but demand for new projects continues unabated.
Passengers Flock to Caltrain After Electrification
The new electric trains are running faster and more reliably, leading to strong ridership growth on the Bay Area rail system.
Texas Churches Rally Behind ‘Yes in God’s Back Yard’ Legislation
Religious leaders want the state to reduce zoning regulations to streamline leasing church-owned land to housing developers.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
Smith Gee Studio
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service