A&E

Beat the Strip’s New Year’s Eve closures by taking, yes, the Monorail

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Every year on December 31, Metro closes off the Strip to all vehicular traffic—private cars, taxis, ride-hailing services, even RTC buses. The resulting wave of pedestrians that washes over our city’s busiest roadway in the absence of cars is an impressive sight, one that everyone should see at least once. But if you’re expecting to simply attack the Strip from its sides—Frank Sinatra Drive to the west, Koval Lane to the east—there’s a little something you should know: Don’t do that.

According to Metro, freeway offramp closures will begin at 5 p.m. on December 31. By 6 p.m., nearly all roads crossing the Strip—from Mandalay Bay Road north through Sahara Avenue—will be closed to east-west traffic. (The notable exception is Desert Inn Road, which ducks under the Strip completely.) The roads won’t reopen until after the street sweepers have done their work—a projected 3:30 a.m. on January 1.

Frank Sinatra and Koval will remain open, as will the freeways. But having done the park-at-Caesars thing in the past, I strongly recommend against taking that easy bait. Even taking a Lyft, Uber or taxi to mid-Strip is risky, considering the traffic they’ll need to battle getting to their staging areas, if those areas are accessible at all. Basically, you have two good options. One is parking at Mandalay Bay and taking that hotel’s free tram to Excalibur. From there you can walk, or use the second option: the Las Vegas Monorail, which runs from MGM Grand to SLS.

The monorail will run into daylight on January 1, and it still costs just $1 per trip for anyone who presents a valid Nevada ID at the ticket booth (or $5 for out-of-towners). Parking at SLS is free, and nearby Sahara Avenue is open to traffic all night. If I were doing this, I’d park at SLS early on, get dinner at Bazaar Meat or Cleo and take the monorail to the Linq or Bally’s/Paris. It’s not a crazy “lifehack”; this is what the monorail was designed for. Let’s get our $2 worth.

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